Five Years
by darkling59
Summary: After waking up to a life he thought he'd left behind, Starrk's search for answers takes him from the depths of Hueco Mundo to the Human World and beyond. He meets some interesting people along the way and, despite his best efforts, reluctantly becomes involved in the conflict that nearly killed him- which will not officially start for another five years. Time Travel (with a twist)
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Five Years **  
Author: **darkling59**  
Rating: **T**  
Date: **3/15/2013  
**Disclaimer:** Bleach and all related characters, plots, etc. do not belong to me.  
**Warnings: **AU/fix-it fic, time travel (sort of…), assumptions about pre-series events and timelines, no pairings  
**Summary**: After waking up to a life he thought he'd left behind, Starrk's search for answers takes him from the depths of Hueco Mundo to the Human World and beyond. He meets some interesting people along the way and, despite his best efforts, reluctantly becomes involved in the conflict that nearly killed him...which will not officially start for another five years. Time Travel (with a twist).

* * *

**Prologue**

What are five years in the grand scheme of things?

To a shinigami, five years is barely enough time to complete paperwork. In fact, some documents can take more than a decade to go through. It takes even longer to rise in rank for all but a select few, and the Central 46 can take five to five hundred years to make a decision. Adult shinigami can survive for tens of millennia unless killed by outside sources, and their younger counterparts can take centuries to grow into adults. In Seireitei, five years is barely the blink of an eye.

To a hollow, five years is not even enough to grow from a common hollow into a Gillian, the shortest period of evolution in the cycle from Basic Hollow to Vasto Lorde. It takes at least a decade to become a Gillian, and centuries to become an Adjuchas. The transition from Adjuchas to Vasto Lorde is so rare that no one knows how long it takes; those few hollows that complete the evolution quickly lose track of time, and shinigami cannot capture and study creatures so powerful; but it is likely longer than all of the other evolutions put together. To a hollow, time is meaningless and five years might as well be five minutes, or five decades. The hunger never changes.

To a human, five years is enough time to grow from a child into an adult, or to fully realize previously untapped potential. A year is enough time for a child to grow physically and mentally, to enter puberty, or to undergo experiences that will change who they are and the way they see the world. Five years is enough time to finish high school, or college, and switch occupations, sometimes more than once. While it's true that some humans can go for ten or twenty years without changing what they do, human lives are normally in constant flux. Even for an adult, looking ahead ten years feels like a long time. For a human, five years is life-changing.

To the hogyoku, five years represents millions of possibilities and probabilities, things that might happen and things that could have happened; decisions that were never made and choices that can change the tide of future events.

To a war between dimensions, on which the fate of all three worlds depends, five years can be the difference between victory and defeat or, for some, life and death.

* * *

**CHAPTER 1: Memories**

_Pain…_

_He was falling, dying, watching as the ex-shinigami he'd sworn allegiance to ignored him, like he was nothing; feeling the eyes of the shinigami that killed him observing his descent with something a little like regret…and a lot like pity. The presence of his other half flickered in the back of his soul, a small spark burning brightly, even in unconsciousness._

"_I'm not alone."_

_Harribel was still fighting. He could hear her, sense the anger and deadly focus in her reiatsu._

"_I'm not alone."_

_She could not win on her own, not against all of them. But Aizen would…Aizen was…what?_

"_I'm not…"_

_Suddenly, her reiatsu changed, flavored with shock and pain._

"_I'm…"_

_Betrayal. Anger._

"_I…"_

_Death._

_The last of the espada were dying._

"_I'm…alone."_

_..._

Coyote Starrk awoke with a quiet, agonized gasp as images too real to be nightmares danced through his mind's eye. The chaotic memories swirled in his head, forcing him to revisit his battle, the shinigami, his mortal injuries, and Aizen's betrayal of Harribel. In that one moment, every illusion about Aizen had been stripped away.

In a rare show of emotion, the primera clenched his fists in helpless anger, forcing his fingers through the coarse sand.

Wait…what?

Startled, Starrk flatted his hand on the ground and felt the surface beneath him, then took a deep breath of air through his nose. Lilynette's slight, warm body was curled up next to him, head on his stomach. It was all very, _very _familiar.

With a mounting feeling of dread, he opened his eyes and was immediately met by the sight of Hueco Mundo's eternal night sky and crescent moon. If he'd had a heart, it would have stopped beating in that moment.

Aizen would not be so cruel, would he? To dump Starrk back in the desert he'd come from, lost and (worst of all) alone? He was done with the arrancar, that much was obvious, but surely he wouldn't take the time and effort to return them to exile in Hueco Mundo before moving on with his plans? Except…it looked like that was what he'd done, down to the exact area where Starrk and Lilynette had lived before meeting Aizen. The giant piles of dead hollows were still intact.

In fact, he was wearing the same hollow-hide garment he'd had on when Aizen found them…except...

That didn't make any sense; the furry material had been discarded and destroyed when they'd been issued uniforms.

"Lilynette?" He shook her shoulder gently.

She grumbled and batted his hand away, snuggling further down in her own fur. He shook her shoulder more firmly until she yawned and opened her eyes, pouting sleepily at him.

"What? I was…" he could tell the moment she realized where they were. Her eyes went wide, losing all trace of sleepiness, and her hands came up to push the cloth away, checking his chest where he'd been fatally slashed by that captain's sword. When she spoke, her voice was small and scared. "Starrk? What happened?"

He sat up with a low sigh, automatically sending out a wave of pesquisa to check for other hollows. Nothing. Lilynette sat back on her heels, hugging the cloth to her defensively and taking in their situation with an increasingly unnerved expression that exactly mirrored how Starrk felt (although he was better at hiding it).

"I don't know. What's the last thing you remember?"

"You were…" she reached and touched his chest where the sword had gone through. It was bare of any blood or injury. "I thought he _killed _you."

"So did I." He pulled up the cloth like a blanket, wrapping it more comfortably around his shoulders and chest. "I was slashed by that captain, and dying, when I felt Aizen kill Harribel." Lilynette stiffened and her confusion began to morph into anger. "Then…I don't know. I think I felt something, a different sort of reiatsu, but I fell unconscious before I saw what it was."

"Aizen…did what?"

Ignoring her, he returned his gaze to the dead hollows.

"If it weren't for the fact that you remember it too, I would think the whole thing was just a dream." He remarked pensively.

"No kidding." She tugged urgently on his arm, pulling his attention back. "WHAT did Aizen do?"

Another sigh. "He stopped her fight, and slashed her with his zanpakuto. She was dying when I fell unconscious."

"That…that….!" The smaller arrancar was literally shaking with rage. "That BASTARD! We gave him everything! We _trusted _him! And I'll bet he never expected us to survive, did he? That …that…SHINIGAMI!"

She said it like the worst insult imaginable and, against his will, Starrk felt his lips twist into a slight smirk. It faded quickly.

"I know. By killing Harribel, he betrayed all of us. I still don't know what we're doing back _here _though, or how we're alive at all. Why would he cause our deaths, only to heal us and return us to Hueco Mundo?"

Lilynette scowled, diatribe effectively killed by Starrk's quiet logic. "Well, I dunno. Maybe he didn't? Maybe the shinigami did?"

Starrk shot her a 'look'. "They were the ones trying to kill us."

"…Maybe…maybe it really was a dream? I mean, how else would our clothes still be intact? And you don't even have any scars."

"If it was only one of us, I would agree. But we've never shared dreams before, and that didn't feel like any nightmare I've ever had."

"Yeah…"

For a long moment, they sat in silence, gazing out at the landscape they had tried so hard to leave behind. It was depressing. After so much time, effort, and suffering, they were right back where they'd started.

"What if…what if we're not the only ones here?"

"Hm?"

"What if other espada have been brought back?"

"…Maybe they have."

"Well then, let's go look for them! It sounds like Harribel was in the same situation, right? Let's find her and ask!"

"Hmph." Starrk slid back down, gazing up at the sky. He despised loneliness, but laziness was a hard habit to get out of. "Nap first?"

"No! Let's go!"

When he didn't move fast enough, she kicked him in the leg. HARD.

"Ow! Alright, alright! I'm coming."

After a moment of concentration to restrain his reiatsu to less lethal levels, the two arrancar set off into the desert, looking for answers.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

So…as promised to my HatM readers, here it is!

I was originally going to add a few segments to the end of the chapter from other POVs, to make the situation clearer, but I figured it would be more effective this way. Also, it'll be a little while before Ichigo comes into the picture, but he'll be a major player later so I've put him as the second character.

I have a lot of other information I could write here, but I'd rather fill it in as it becomes relevant in the following chapters. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them (unless the answer is a spoiler)!

**A/N: **I've spent three freaking days trying to get the summary right. I'm posting it regardless of its quality.

* * *

**Please Review & let me know what you think!**

Reviews are a great source of encouragement and inspiration so **more reviews = more (& faster) updates**.

(I will respond to all signed reviews except flames within 5 days, barring extenuating circumstances.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Five Years **  
Author: **darkling59**  
Rating: **T**  
Date: **4/19/2013  
**Disclaimer:** Bleach and all related characters, plots, etc. do not belong to me.  
**Warnings: **AU/fix-it fic, time travel (sort of…), assumptions about pre-series events and timelines, no pairings

* * *

**Chapter 2: Questions**

Tier Harribel, sole female Vasto Lorde in Hueco Mundo, stood outside the stone spire she called home, staring out across the desert. Behind her, she could hear her girls bickering and play-fighting at the bottom of the stairs. Apacci was still learning her place in their small pack, but the three Adjuchas were already forming bonds closer than family. Harribel was satisfied with her choices of fraccion and looked forward to protecting them and helping them evolve.

That wasn't what was bothering her.

What she was troubled by was far less physical and more ephemeral. She wasn't even sure if it was real, or just a figment of her imagination.

Dreams_._

Recently (perhaps it was last week, or last month; it was impossible to tell time in Hueco Mundo), she awoke from slumber with a jumble of disjointed images and sense-memories clouding her thoughts. Never mind that she didn't remember going to sleep; some of the images were downright impossible: blue sky and green grass, the feeling of wind on her face, smooth cloth against un-masked skin, broken buildings and shattered pavement, a shinigami dressed in white, a sword in her hand…

If she were human, she would have dismissed them as products of her imagination. However, she was a hollow, and as such did not remember the human world and had never seen buildings or pavement. Swords were as foreign to her as clothes and unmasked skin. In her entire life as a hollow, there was no frame of reference or instigating experience that she could have created such images from. Therefore, these could not have originated in her mind.

Along with the images came emotions and sensations: fierce pride, reluctant submission, grim satisfaction, trust, anger, loss, pain, betrayal…These were more familiar, but also more disturbing given the circumstances. What would she possibly be willing to submit to? Who had…would…will betray her?

The more she thought about it, the more she remembered, but she had the distinct feeling the images she was getting were out of order and fragmented. She needed more information in order to understand what-

"Harribel?"

The female Vasto Lorde jerked backwards (_who was it how was this possible she hadn't sensed anything!_), jumping away from the new presence (_within touching distance!_) and drawing the sharp edge of her right arm to bear. The casual strike that batted it away was horrifically strong, driving her arm numb from the force and sending her (_a Vasto Lorde!_) reeling. Not giving herself time to recover, she lunged forward, determined to drive the intruder away from her home (_if it could beat her, what would it do to the girls?!_). It vanished in a sonido so fast she could not follow it with her eyes, reappearing an arm's length behind her. _(Fast. Too fast!_)

The sounds of arguing in the Spire ground to a halt, replaced instead by pounding hooves, paws, and slithers as her subordinates responded to the sounds of battle and came rushing to assist her. But they were too weak; if they faced this opponent, even all together, they would die.

Now desperate _(She had to finish it, NOW!) _she twisted and lunged again, expecting to find claws at her belly and teeth in her throat, and preparing to respond in kind. The closeness of the stone kept her from swinging her arm and it dragged painfully along the rock, pushing her away from her target. In a last ditch effort she did not expect to work, she fired a cero in the direction of the intruder, attempting to force it away from the entrance as the first of her fraccion, Mila Rose, appeared in the opening.

To her surprise, the figure retreated in another quick burst of sonido, coming to rest far outside of striking range in the shadow of a neighboring crystal tree.

"Harribel-sama!" Three voices chorused in various stages of shock and worry. She held up a hand, absentmindedly ordering them to 'halt' at her back. For the first time, she was able to catch her breath and observe her attacker in full. What she saw was not reassuring.

It was a male Vasto Lorde, covered in some sort of shaggy brown fur that immediately put her in mind of Barragan's cape. The shadows concealed most of his face so she could not get a good look at his mask features, but his chest was curiously bare with only a single line of bone teeth and a hollow hole on his sternum to indicate his nature. All observations had to be made with her five basic senses; according to her enhanced hollow abilities and reiryoku, there was no one there. In that respect, he was completely invisible. Considering his obvious power, that was terrifying in and of itself.

"Harribel?"

Her eyes snapped to his face, hardening with suspicion. She brandished her weapon menacingly, knowing it was an empty threat against his power, but unwilling to back down. Behind her, Mila Rose growled deeply and Apacci stomped a fore hoof in the sand. Without looking, she knew SungSun had coiled and reared back in threat.

"How do you know my name?"

Pale eyes shone in the shadows, catching the light of the moon and reflecting silver. At the sight, something nudged insistently at the back of her mind.

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Her voice could have frozen fire.

The male hollow gave a quiet sigh and stepped out of the deeper shadows, into the full moonlight.

Harribel's eyes widened in disbelief and her fraccion immediately froze, with a series of quiet gasps and oaths.

He looked…_human_. The fur all over his body was not a pelt, as she'd thought; it was _clothes_. And the curious patch of skin on his chest was continued up his neck and face, revealing scruffy facial hair, angular features, and a downcast expression. In fact, the row of teeth around his neck was the only sign of a mask that she could see. There was no way he could be a hollow.

"What…"

In utter confusion, she finally met his eyes.

_Crushing spiritual pressure, mournful confusion, laziness, power, arrancar, PRIMERA…_

"…Starrk?"

His head jerked up, fire lighting in his eyes. For the first time, she felt a whisper of intense reiatsu, quickly suppressed.

"You know who I am?"

He seemed so _hopeful_. She'd never heard him like this, not in the entire time she'd…she…

But she didn't know him, did she?

She frowned, slowly settling back into a defensive position. At her signal, the three Adjuchas dropped out of battle-readiness and clustered at her back, bickering quietly at each other and watching the newcomer with hostile confusion.

His eyes tracked their movements, but he didn't try to come any closer.

"I remember…things. I am not sure what they are."

He frowned, shrugging the fur closer around his shoulders. "You know my name."

She blinked and cocked her head curiously. "What do _you _remember?"

A blank expression slammed down on his face, but somehow she knew it was a cover for emotional turmoil. She didn't know how because she didn't know _him_, but it was the truth. He averted his eyes after a long moment, and slumped is shoulders.

"I remember everything, as if it happened yesterday. Since you were the last one left, I thought you would be my best bet for finding someone else who remembers."

"Me?" She straightened, still wary but less defensive. Her finely tuned instincts were telling her the male was legit, and she was inclined to believe them. That did not, however, mean he was _safe. _"The last what?"

He shot her an odd look. "The last one left alive."

Her body went cold, as disjointed images assaulted her mind.

_A man in white…powerful shinigami…fire…death…SungSun, Mila Rose, and Apacci cut down and left to die slowly…vengeance…ice...pain…Aizen-sama…betrayal…_

"…Aizen…" she whispered, eyes wide.

"You _do _remember." His tone was knowing, but tired. She ignored him, staring straight ahead in confused horror. What _was _this? After a long moment, she pulled out of her musings and turned to consider him.

"I know names and images, but I do not understand what they are from." She lowered her arm and pinned him with a no-nonsense glare. "Nor do I remember _you_."

He blinked, and then shrugged. "At least you remember some of it. I've tried approaching a few lower level Adjuchas that were arrancar, but they have no idea what I'm talking about. I think they were dead before we went back, though."

"…Went back?" Before he could respond she shook her head. "Stop. Please, explain to me what you know from the beginning."

A reluctant frown was her answer. She responded with a cold glare.

"I will not come to understand these flashes unless you explain everything in chronological order. That IS what you want, isn't it? For me to remember?"

He scowled, rocking backwards on his heels. "Yes, but it'll be time consuming. And I'll sound insane."

Her unimpressed glower did not sway his opinion. "If you are not willing to share, then why did you approach me?"

"I thought you already knew everything. I wasn't expecting to be attacked…"

"We are hollows in Hueco Mundo." Her tone was dry, but she was actually mildly amused. "You should always be prepared for an attack."

He shrugged.

"Come _on_, Starrk!" The high-pitched childish voice had the four female hollows snapping to attention, but the male simply sighed in apparent annoyance.

"Lilynette…"

"No!" A tiny figure hopped out of the crystal tree, landing next to Starrk and glowering up at him. "Stop being such a lazy ass and tell them what happened already! That's why we're _here_, isn't it?"

Harribel arched her eyebrows in disbelief, watching the child-hollow rebuke her stronger companion. Her appearance should have been as much of a shock as Starrk's, but somehow the two of them just felt _right _together. When Apacci sniggered quietly at her side, she realized the girl's appearance had drastically reduced the tension of the situation. That could be good…or it could be a trap.

Regardless, the child provided her an opportunity to request more from the male hollow.

"Starrk, my memory flashes occur when you address certain events that only you seem to have knowledge of. If you explain to me what they mean, what I _should _know, then I will most likely remember everything on my own. I will not think you are insane.

He studied her for a long moment, glancing at Lilynette occasionally and looking torn, then nodded slowly.

"I suppose you're right. It's no use if you don't even know what I'm talking about, I guess. And you'll have a lot more success with the others than I would."

She quirked an eyebrow in mild annoyance. "Indeed. I'm sure you'll explain that statement in due time?"

"Yeah, sure." He slumped against the tree, resting in the shadows once again, with Lilynette bouncing from her position at his side to the lower limbs of the tree, and back. "So the shinigami made this rock thing called a Hogyoku…"

Harribel settled back to listen, with her fraccion arrayed around her, allowing the arrancar's words and her own 'memories' to solidify in her mind, painting a picture of power, betrayal, and death.

* * *

The complete recount took the better part of three hours, with Starrk's quiet narration, occasionally interrupted by Lilynette's dramatic 'emphasis', the only sound in the desolate landscape. Even the wind and distant cries of hunting hollows seemed muted. Harribel and her fraccion listened with rapt attention, the three Adjuchas occasionally exchanging incredulous glances and shrugs, but remaining silent on their mistress's will.

For her part, Harribel spent the time trying to fit the images from her 'dream' into the events Starrk was describing. Some of it fit, but there were still major gaps, and even what she did remember was…distant. Abstract. She _saw _it, knew it must have happened, but there was no personal connection and no feeling that it had happened to _her_ beyond the occasional surge of emotion. Loyalty to Aizen, mourning over her fraccion, and hatred for the shinigami…those were the only parts of the story she really felt connected to.

"And…that's it." He finished with a recount of his loss and Aizen's betrayal.

"You saw him kill me?"

"No. I felt it. Then I woke up here."

"And you believe this is the past."

He shrugged and yawned. "Must be. These things we're wearing were destroyed when we got our espada uniforms. If we're not in the past, how do they exist?"

Lilynette nodded from her position sitting at his feet, where she'd finally settled. "Yah, and everything was in the same place as before, too. The piles would have been scattered if we'd been gone for long."

Harribel's eyes zeroed in on the young girl, sharpening in sudden focus. For all of his information, Starrk had steered clear of anything personal. He hadn't even revealed his power levels, or his position in Aizen's army. At this point, she couldn't tell if that was an attempt to put her at a disadvantage, if he assumed she already knew, or if it was a result of his laziness in not wanting to say more than he absolutely had to.

"Piles?"

Starrk nudged Lilynette with his foot and she pushed back, immediately diverted. Harribel frowned at the obvious distraction, suspicions raised, but when she spoke, it was about something else entirely.

"What have you discovered since waking up?"

Starrk gave a put upon sigh, sliding down the tree to sit next to Lilynette.

"Very little. We ran into a few other Adjuchas that should be arrancar, but they avoided me. Those that _would _speak to us had no idea what I was talking about."

"It took _forever._" Lilynette grumbled.

Since hollows are typically nomadic creatures that spend their lives roaming the sands, shying away from contact with others beyond fraccion and predator/prey relationships, they are suspicious of anything that does not fit one of those categories. Starrk definitely did _not _fit. He and Lilynette spent a long time searching out and following scent trails, trying and failing to find someone with answers. Unfortunately, it seemed Aizen had already recruited most of the more powerful hollows, and Starrk had no intention of going anywhere near Los Noches, whether there were answers there or not. None of the weaker hollows knew anything.

Finding Harribel's scent trail was a stroke of luck, not design, but Starrk was glad to find someone, _anyone_, connected to the future memories.

But none of that was relevant to the former/future Tercera, so he let it pass unsaid.

"None of the lesser hollows knew anything?" she asked.

"No."

"And the other espada?"

"Haven't found any."

She raised an eyebrow, crossing her human arm over her stomach in annoyance. His short answers were becoming irritating, although she was fairly certain his way of speaking was due to laziness rather than spite. After a moments' thought, and a contemplative glance at Lilynette, she turned to her fraccion.

"Girls? What do you remember?"

They came to attention, startled to suddenly be a part of the conversation.

Mila Rose clawed the ground, shaking her mane in agitation, then lowering her head, and responding in her typical low growl. "Nothing, Harribel-sama. All I remember in the last month is hunting, not 'the future' or whatever."

SungSun shook her head mockingly, before hissing; "Of course you would remember hunting. Barbarian."

The lion bristled and snarled. "Yeah, so what do _you _remember, prissy bitch? I'll bet you know even less than me!"

"_That _would be impossible, regardless of my lack of memories. I am sure I would remember with the proper stimulus."

"Why you little-."

"Fire."

Harribel turned towards Apacci, uncharacteristically silent until now.

"You remember something, Apacci?"

"Not much." The deer shook her head, dipping her horns down to rub them against an extended foreleg. "Just…fire. And pain. I…"

She paused, staring at her hooves, expression unreadable.

"I had…hands, I think. I was holding something…but I don't remember what." She looked up through her antlers, head still at knee level. "Does that help, Harribel-sama?"

"Perhaps" The Vasto Lorde turned back towards Starrk, ignoring the grumbling of Mila Rose and SungSun along with the sudden preening of Apacci. The three of them would work it out; they always did.

Was SungSun correct? Would the proper stimulus recall their memories, or was Apacci special in some way? Why could Harribel remember so much more than her subordinates?

Starrk was watching them, and she returned his gaze evenly, refusing to back down. It was a pleasant surprise when he did not take it as a challenge, as most male hollows did, but instead simply cocked his head and waited patiently. She did not trust him yet; she didn't even remember him, despite his memories of her; but it would be useful to have such a powerhouse on her side. She would need to be careful, but perhaps this could work to her benefit, and bring her the answers she now sought.

"What are you going to do now?"

He eyed her, and then yawned. "Well, if you don't know, and none of the other hollows know, then maybe the shinigami do."

Her eyes widened. "You're going to go to Los Noches?"

"Hell no." Lilynette was the one who answered. "We're not going anywhere _near _Aizen. We'll try the human world first."

Harribel glanced to Starrk for confirmation and he nodded reluctantly. "It's unlikely any other hollows will have better information, if you don't know anything. We'll try the living world, see what they know. If that doesn't work, we'll try other shinigami. Not Aizen."

"And if that doesn't work?"

He grimaced. "Los Noches, I guess."

A slow nod was his only answer as the shark hollow thought back over her memories, trying to figure out how Starrk would achieve his goals. The sights and emotions surrounding the defeat of her fraccion still haunted her, and she reviewed the other images with analytical detachment. With enough fore-knowledge and power, she should be able to keep that from happening.

This time, she would be prepared.

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

Ten year old Ichigo Kurosaki awoke with a gasp, stumbling out of bed and down the hallway to the bathroom on autopilot.

It was the same dream, the one he'd had every night for the past month. In the light of day, the details always escaped him, but now…

Now, green eyes haunted his thoughts. A bat-like monster with a hole in its chest bearing down on him, emotionless even as it killed him. In the distance, he could see and hear a red-haired woman (His mother?) screaming his name.

With a shaky gasp, he bent his head to the sink, splashing water in his face and trying to stay quiet, so he wouldn't wake his father or sisters.

He did not look into the mirror. If he had, he would have seen a pure white reflection staring back through the glass, eyes glowing demonic yellow on black.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Eh…this chapter is kind of a disappointment for me. A lot of it was in the 'preview' in Howling at the Moon and the rest just didn't want to be written. But, whatever, writer's block hits us all and at least I've imparted all of the information I needed to. I hope it reads better to you guys than it felt to me when I wrote it.

Next chapter will be interesting (Ichigo, yay!) and then I have 2-4 installments outlined. After that, the plot gets…wonky. But in a good way. :) I really _cannot wait _for him to try to find out what the shinigami know. That will be lots of fun to write.

(I love putting Bleach characters in these situations…XD)

Also...I WILL NOT be including anything from the current manga arc. I've already plotted this story and I'm not really staying up to date on the 'revelations' in the manga. Therefore, the information I use will be how things stood at the end of the arrancar arc.

* * *

**Please Review & let me know what you think!**

Reviews are a great source of encouragement and inspiration so more reviews = more (& faster) updates. :)

Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! You guys are awesome!

* * *

**Currently Relevant Time Line Information: **

-Aizen, Tousen, and Gin usurped Barragan's throne and started renovation on Los Noches approx. 45-50 years before 'Bleach' (based on their haori, and the date that Gin became a captain).  
-In the canon universe, Starrk and Harribel were recruited by Aizen after he defected from Soul Society (based on the state of Aizen's 'makeover'.)

Information acquired from the Bleach wikia and canonical sources (anime/manga/character books)

_I will update this list as necessary. In order to make the 'Five Years' timeline work, I will be taking creative liberty with some info and making assumptions about certain events (that Kubo never clarified one way or the other). Please don't nitpick.**  
**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Five Years **  
Author: **darkling59**  
Rating: **T**  
Date: **5/30/2013  
**Disclaimer:** Bleach and all related characters, plots, etc. do not belong to me.  
**Warnings: **AU/fix-it fic, time travel (sort of…), assumptions about pre-series events and timelines, no pairings

**I WILL NOT be including anything from the current manga arc. I've already plotted this story and I'm not really staying up to date on the 'revelations' in the manga. Therefore, the information I use will be how things stood at the end of the arrancar arc.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Nightmares**

Two weeks after meeting Harribel, Starrk and Lilynette made their first tentative foray into the human world

The former primera was moderately surprised by how easy it was to slip in undetected. When he and Lilynette were living alone, they'd never visited because his deadly spiritual pressure could kill humans even more easily than hollows (which would have immediately drawn the attention of shinigami) and after being recruited by Aizen, travel to the human world was forbidden without express permission or orders. As tensions mounted between the Gotei and the Arrancar, Karakura became so closely monitored by shinigami that a single Garganta would draw lieutenants and captains within seconds. Even if he'd been willing to defy Aizen's edict, it would have been impossible to cross dimensions without running into trouble.

Now, he had the training and experience to control his reiatsu and the freedom to go wherever he wanted. He'd originally been worried about what sort of reception they'd encounter, but apparently the shinigami were not yet an obstacle he had to contend with.

At his side, Lilynette paced restlessly. Her suspicious gaze took in the city below them and she hugged her fur more tightly around her shoulders, nervously recalling the last time they'd looked down a similar vista during the Winter War. He hadn't wanted to bring her because there was no way to predict what sort of reception was waiting in Karakura, but he didn't quite trust Harribel enough to leave Lilynette alone with her. In the old timeline the primera and tres had been relatively amiable in each other's presence but they'd never really talked or bonded in any way. For all that he sought her out this time, he knew next to nothing about who she was.

"So…now what?" Lilynette whispered at his elbow, eyes still peeled for the telltale black cloth and sword shine of an attacking shinigami.

Starrk shrugged lackadaisically and yawned, tension drastically reduced by the lack of reaction thus far. There was no reason for the shinigami to lay a trap; if they hadn't attacked yet it meant they probably didn't know there were arrancar present. Besides, he could easily handle the few weak reaitsu signatures he felt in the town below if they chose to make a problem.

"I guess we find a human, and see what they remember." He set off towards the buildings, descending gradually as they got further into the city.

"Well, yeah. Duh! But _who_? We don't know any humans!" She dogged his steps, occasionally banging into his back because her attention was so scattered.

"Hn." He grunted noncommittally. There _were_ humans involved in the war, he knew that. Three of them had come to rescue the girl Aizen captured. He didn't remember their identities, but maybe -.

He paused, mentally reviewed that statement, and rolled his eyes. Talk about overlooking the obvious.

"The girl that Aizen captured. Ino or Inu or something…"

Lilynette scoffed. "Inoue, idiot. Orihime Inoue…or Inoue Orihime?…Aizen said it often enough."

"Mhm. I tried my best to be asleep during those meetings."

She grumbled irritably but couldn't really protest, considering the end result.

They reached street level in a small park and Starrk immediately put his nose in the air and inhaled deeply. So many scents…

Being a hollow, his sense of smell was extremely acute and capable of picking out more mundane olfactory cues (such as odors, chemicals, and pheromones) as well as reiatsu. That was something Aizen and his cronies always seemed to disregard; shinigami had senses on par with humans, but hollows were predators and, at their core, evolved to live like animals. Arrancar were a step up mentally, but most still retained those base abilities. In fact, some skills (such as pesquisa), enhanced them.

Lilynette snuffled quietly, and then sneezed, a loud sound in the quiet park.

"What _is_ all that?"

He waved an unconcerned hand at the shrubbery and flowers, too focused on scenting to spare any more attention.

"Huh." She wandered a short distance away, crouching down over a patch of flowers and sniffing deeply. She'd never seen anything like them in Hueco Mundo. "It's…weird. The other town wasn't like this."

"The other town was fake. I doubt the shinigami reproduced it all the way down to the plants." He lowered his head with a disappointed sigh. There were a few surprisingly powerful reiatsu signatures, one or two that raised red flags, but they were faint and far away. No sign of the girl…it wasn't surprising, considering the size of the city, but it would have been nice to have a lucky break on the first try.

"Come on. Maybe we'll have better luck around the buildings." He ambled off towards the border of the park, keeping a relaxed pace so he could continue sampling the air. Lilynette followed, reluctantly tearing her eyes from the vegetation.

"What about the shinigami?"

"Eh…we can avoid them."

"But don't we have to question one of them too?"

He grunted noncommittally. She was right, but he really wasn't looking forward to it. Trying to corner and question a shinigami was a venture nearly guaranteed to backfire and he'd prefer to do it when he was the one calling the shots.

"Not yet."

She scowled. "Why?"

"We don't want to tip our hand." They easily jumped the fence at the border of the park, setting off down the street. "They weren't waiting for us when we came through…that makes me think at least _some _of the captains don't remember anything. If they did, they'd be monitoring the human world for arrancar activity."

"And Aizen'd probably be in Hueco Mundo. Or, y'know, _dead_."

He paused and blinked rapidly, then looked down at her. He'd avoided thinking about Aizen because it was a painful subject and a problem he had no way of dealing with, but actually…

"You're right. If they remembered, then Aizen would have been forced out of Soul Society, imprisoned, or killed."

"So…maybe this is all pointless anyway and they've already-."

A faint whiff of reiatsu, weak and human and familiar, tickled his senses. His head immediately whipped around, back on the scent.

"Hey!" Lilynette yelped indignantly when he jumped into a sonido, nearly leaving her behind in his haste. He had to slow down so as not to outpace or overshoot the trail, so she caught up quickly and expressed her anger by kicking him in the rear.

"You cut me off!"

"I found her." He made an indignant sound and scowled but slowed down as the trace intensified and began to merge with other similar trails. When he reached the point where all of the paths combined, he found himself standing outside of an apartment. Starrk shrugged off his lingering reservations (it was unlikely Orihime would be happy to see him, considering their most recent encounter when he snatched her from the shinigami) and knocked on the door.

After a long, silent moment, Lilynette huffed and rolled her eyes

"You weren't loud enough."

She stepped up beside him and kicked the door, hard enough to leave an indent, then hollered: "Oi, Inoue! We want to talk to you!"

"Lilynette…"

"What?"

Before he could rebuke her, the door opened a crack to reveal…darkness?

"Uhm…Hello?"

He blinked and looked down; finding a pair of large, sleepy brown eyes framed by short red hair peering through the gap.

"Onna?"

* * *

.X.

Ten-year-old Orihime Inoue stared at the empty hallway in sleepy confusion. That loud 'bang!' was at the front door, right? It must have been, because it woke her up...

She knew she wasn't supposed to open the door to strangers at night, but she was tired and thought maybe they would go away if she asked them politely what they wanted. But there was no one there.

"Hello?"

She pulled the door wider, sticking her head out to look up and down the hallway, then stepped outside so she could see better. No matter how she looked, there was nothing there now that hadn't been there when she went to sleep.

"Orihime?" Sora's sleep-rough voice came from the shadows behind her. "What are you doing outside?"

She gave a mighty yawn and stumbled back into the apartment, closing and locking the door behind her. "Sorry, nii-san. I thought I heard something."

He yawned as well. "It was probably one of the neighbors. You should get back to sleep – tomorrow is a school day, after all."

"Hai, nii-san." She stopped at his door, yawning again. "Sorry for waking you up."

He chuckled and kissed her gently on the forehead. "It's alright. Goodnight."

"Night."

She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, happily ensconced in dreamland once again.

* * *

.X.

Starrk and Lilynette stood stock-still as the small girl looked right through them, completely oblivious to their presence. She looked…_different_. Aging was a foreign concept to most hollows (with the exception of Barragan); Lilynette had been a child for as long as she could remember and Starrk had never been young…that's just how hollows worked. Neither of them had even considered how significant five years could be for a young human.

Orihime was even shorter than Lilynette with hair that barely reached her shoulders (currently in disarray due to her slumber) and a physical form that was just…_tiny_. Breakable, even. It looked like she would be easily defeated by a strong gust of wind. Her too-large pink pajamas, decorated liberally with fairies and stars, dragged at her feet and flopped down over her wrists as she shuffled around the hallway, at one point stepping in between the two arrancar.

They watched silently as she finished her inspection and closed the door with a quiet 'click'.

"Well." Lilynette was the one to break the silence. "I guess that answers ONE question."

Starrk nodded contemplatively. Not only did the human girl not remember the Winter War (if she had, she would certainly have suspected hollows at the door), she didn't even have any supernatural abilities. Her reiatsu was well within the normal range for a non-spiritually aware human. Which begged the question: what would happen in the next five years to change her so much?

"So…now what?"

He shrugged. "We go back to Hueco Mundo, I guess."

Lilynette grumbled with dissatisfaction…she'd wanted answers, not a dead end!...and eyed him

"What about the other humans? "

"I never met them." And if he didn't know who they were or what they smelled like, how would he find them? "And they're probably all like the girl."

"But we don't know that…Maybe some of them remember!"

"Hn…"

"And then we wouldn't have to go back so soon…"

"The longer we're here, the more likely it is we'll be detected."

She snorted derisively. "By those weaklings? Screw that! I could take them out!"

"You just don't want to go back yet."

"Oh, shut up. I'm right and you know it!" He was right – she didn't want to return to Hueco Mundo. It wasn't home, not anymore, and she was becoming restless for something…_anything_…to break up the monotony. As Aizen's headquarters, Los Noches was off the table, but the human world...

Starrk gave a deep sigh. "I'll take one last look around. Maybe I'll find something. You should go back to the park and look for somewhere less conspicuous for us to Garganta in next time."

"Hey! I'm just as good at tracking as you are!" Not that she really minded (he always took _forever_…that would give her plenty of time to indulge her curiosity) but she had appearances to keep up.

He began to ascend into the air, ignoring her bluster completely. "Stay away from shinigami. If they don't remember, we don't want them to know about us yet."

"Don't ignore me!"

"Just-Ow!" Her well-aimed kick caught him square in the back of the head, pitching him forward and making him stumble a few steps. Lilynette bounced back and sniffed haughtily.

"Now, _I'm _going to look at the park while _you _look for the humans."

She sonido'd away, confident that she'd 'won'. Starrk rolled his eyes in exasperation and traced her movements until she slowed down at the park, then set off to complete his own task. It was unlikely he'd be able to find the other humans, but he might as well try. After all, there was no telling when the shinigami would start taking a more active role in protecting Karakura Town- this could be his only chance.

Besides, if he did it now, it meant he wouldn't need to go to the trouble of waking up to do it again later.

* * *

It was only ten minutes or so until he caught his first trace of strangeness. He'd passed over a few slightly spiritually aware adults, one child that was maybe strong enough to sense hollows but not see them, and a disconcerting reiatsu-null spot (it felt like static to his senses), but this…it didn't feel human _or _shinigami_._ Or rather, it was a little bit like both. Its reiatsu reminded him more of those false hollows he'd fought in the Winter War than a full member of either species. Shinigami with hollow abilities…

But there was nothing human about _them_.

Interested, he drifted down towards the source of the reiatsu and found himself standing outside the window of a small house. An in depth pesquisa revealed four individuals inside; three children and one adult; and an odd mixture of human, hollow, and shinigami reiatsu. Strangely, he couldn't sense any details – just like that 'null spot' he'd passed earlier, there was something blocking his ability to sense anything more specific. Perhaps it was shinigami kido or some sort of natural interference due to Karakura's high level of spirit energy...It was a worrying sign that someone powerful might have been in the area, but there was no indication of a continued presence.

Regardless, he would have to go inside to learn anything more. Knocking politely on the front door was not an option here, just in case there _was _a shinigami present, but all of the other possibilities required expending far too much energy. He scowled and hunched his shoulders irritably. This was all far easier when he could delegate it to the lower espada and numeros.

With a put upon sigh, Starrk reached forward and tested the window. Finding it unlocked, he soundlessly opened the lower pane and slipped into the house.

* * *

.X.

In the past two weeks, Ichigo's nightmares had not improved. If anything, they were worse. Now, the black bat-demon was sometimes joined by a blue man-cat creature who laughed and laughed, baring teeth sharp enough to…to…He didn't know, the creature never caught him in the nightmares, but it was really scary. Sometimes images of his mother's body (broken and bleeding in the rain) were mingled in with the other images. She was a fixture in his dreams - always in the background, screaming his name, but _he could never reach her._ He couldn't protect her, he couldn't even protect himself!

He'd taken to avoiding falling asleep as long as possible; pinching on his hands and arms if his eyes began to close, going for water or bathroom visits late at night, getting up and walking around, turning on a flashlight under the covers to read books and comics…anything he could think of. That's why, when the window over his bed slid open and Starrk stepped inside, he was not actually present. He'd gone to get a glass of water (his second of the night). When he returned, he found a stranger standing in the middle of his room - a man as tall as his dad whose entire body was concealed by dark fur…_just like the_ _bat demon from his nightmares_.

The ten-year-old's breathing picked up and his hand began to tremble on the glass. What if…what if…he was a monster like the other one? And he was here to…to…do…something?

But he was just standing there, staring absentmindedly out the window. To be honest, he didn't look very threatening. And he had the same far off, I'm-looking-at-something-you-can't-see expression that a lot of spirits wore.

Gathering his courage, Ichigo took a tentative step forward and addressed the intruder.

"Are you a ghost?"

Starrk heard the child, the source of the strange reiatsu he'd been following, all the way at the opposite end of the hallway. He hadn't expected to be seen but it wasn't too surprising, considering the boy's high level of sensitivity. However, he thought the kid would run crying or maybe faint…_not_ ask a question. Mildly surprised, he turned to face the room's rightful occupant.

"…What?"

Gaining boldness at the lack of hostile reaction, Ichigo took another step forward.

"Are you a ghost?"

"Eh…" He gave a one-shouldered shrug. "I guess."

"Oh." Reassured (ghosts were well within Ichigo's comfort zone – he'd been able to see them for as long as he could remember), the boy walked confidently to his bed and put the glass of water on his end table. He knew it was rude to stare, but he eyed the hollow with interest. Most ghosts looked relatively normal if you ignored the chest-chain, but this one…

"Why do you have a hole in your chest?"

Starrk blinked down, taken off guard more by the child's appearance than his questions. He actually _recognized_ this boy. As primera, he had only encountered Kurosaki once (very briefly), but that orange hair was unmistakable.

Ichigo was used to ghosts zoning out on him...it was just something they _did_, a side effect of being dead. It was still annoying though.

"Hey, Ghost-san, why don't you have a chain?" He prompted again.

"…I'm not that kind of ghost."

"There are different kinds of ghosts?"

"Yes." Starrk frowned, eying the child. He wasn't showing any sign of recognition, but heightened spiritual awareness was more than Orihime retained. His reiatsu was a confusing mix of human and shinigami shot through with dark, discordant streaks of hollow. The whole mess was unbalanced and volatile, almost as if there was something trying to break free. "What are you?"

"Me? Uh…_human_." Ichigo shot him an incredulous look, obviously questioning his sanity. "What else?"

"Not a shinigami?"

"What's a shinigami?"

Starrk blinked, and then frowned deeply in consideration. The boy was definitely part shinigami…the question was, had it come back from the other time with him or was it natural?

"It's a different kind of ghost. A soul reaper."

Not even a flicker of recognition.

It was looking more and more like Ichigo was naturally sensitive and he'd retained just as little knowledge of the Winter War as Orihime. Except that hollow reiatsu…

Starrk cautiously extended a tendril of his own energy and prodded at the oddness. It responded eagerly, surging up and attempting to lash out, only to be pulled back in when it proved too weak. In response, Ichigo shivered and sat down, suddenly reminded of his nightmares. The ghost was a good distraction and for a blessed few minutes he'd managed to forget about the monsters…but not anymore. Starrk's gaze sharpened at the reaction, but he didn't restrain his reiatsu.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just bad dreams, you know?"

Another touch of energy, which the hollow reiatsu eagerly devoured, and Ichigo shuddered, burying his face in his hands.

"Mmh…Bad dreams…have you always had them?"

"No. I mean, my mom died last year and I had trouble sleeping after that but the demon only showed up a couple months ago."

"Demon?"

Ichigo tried to recover by taking a big gulp of water, but quickly caved under Starrk's expectant gaze.

"It's just a nightmare, but…there's this giant black bat creature, like a demon. It has these dead green eyes…"

_Ulquiorra_.

"…and sometimes there's a blue guy with cat ears and tail. I know it doesn't sound scary but his _claws…"_

_Grimmjow._

"…and Mom is there, but she looks different…her hair is long and she's wearing white… and she's _screaming_ for me but I can't get to her!"

_Orihime._

"Kurosaki." Starrk crouched in front of him, looking into his face with a serious expression. The boy refused to meet his eyes. "I don't think these are dreams."

"W-what?" His head jerked up so fast it must have caused whiplash. Starrk brushed at his reiatsu again and felt the hollow aspect surge, nearly detaching itself from the whole. Perhaps Ichigo wasn't the one who came back…

"Hm…is there anything else you remember? And do you know when, exactly, they started?"

"What do you mean 'remember'? Those are the things that stay the same. And I guess…a month and a half ago? Two months? Is that important? Can you…" He swallowed. "Can you make the dreams go away?"

The arrancar grunted noncommittally and added another tendril. This time, a black and red shimmer materialized in the air behind Ichigo, pulsing as Starrk fed it more power.

"…I might be able to do something. It could help. Did anything else happen around that time? New memories or knowledge?"

"…No…?"

"Hm."

He fed in another small bit of power.

_Snap._

A blur of white _ripped_ out of the shimmer, tumbling to the bed and lunging for the window too fast for human eyes to follow. It was gone by the time Ichigo turned around, and when he looked back, the strange ghost had vanished.

He felt something shift in his head…the desperation and on-edge emotions calmed almost instantly and he felt like he could really _breathe _for the first time in two months. Suddenly, his fear seemed distant and unrealistic. A guy with bat wings and fur? A man with kitty ears and tail? Puh-lease…why were those scary? The primal terror he'd felt from the nightmares was no longer immediate or important.

It didn't take much to make the jump from the ghost's last statement to Ichigo's sudden mental stability. He knew he should be suspicious, but he was just too relieved.

For just a moment, he closed his eyes to relish the lack of fear.

And it wouldn't hurt to lie down; he could pinch himself awake if it looked like he was going to start dreaming…

When he woke up the next day, he was happy and rested and could not remember what he'd dreamt. The horrible imaginings about Ulquiorra and Grimmjow (when had he named the demons? Why had he named them _that_?) were a thing of the past. And if sometimes, in the good dreams that surfaced after the strange ghost took away his nightmares, he saw a girl wearing black fighting monsters with a sword, a boy with an archer's bow made of light, or a funny looking man wearing green with a talking black cat…well, kids have great imaginations, right?

* * *

.X.

Starrk blurred after the creature, calm and focused on the outside but internally cursing. _He _could restrain his power and stay under the cover of any spiritually aware individuals in the area. _This thing_ was shedding reiatsu like cat fur and would call down every shinigami in a thirty mile radius if it didn't start practicing some self-control. Suddenly, it dodged, flipping up into the air and coming down on top of the former primera. Baffled but prepared, Starrk purposely overshot and dodged left, pulling a tight circle and lashing out, catapulting his opponent down onto (and into) the pavement below.

He landed before it caught its breath, preparing to speak…only to pause and crease his brow in confusion. Malevolently amused yellow on black eyes glared at him and he met them with a flat stare. It…he… looked like the boy Starrk had just left behind but with a few obvious physical differences: the inhuman eyes, a huge sword (which looked extremely out of place on a ten-year-old), a shinigami's shihakusho, and everything on him (skin, clothes, hair, etc.) was either stark white or black (mostly white). Only the eyes bore any sign of color. His active malice and destructive behavior were very different from Ichigo, but those were peripheral traits at most; the base reiatsu was identical to that of the human boy.

It must be a part of him, the same way a zanpakuto was part of a shinigami or Lilynette was part of Starrk.

The creature's tumultuous reiatsu held the promise of great future power, but for now he was no threat. His stance indicated he knew how to use the sword but it trembled and wobbled alarmingly when he tried to hold it up and he obviously did not have the muscle tone or mass he was used to. Whatever training and experience Kurosaki might have in the future as a shinigami, at this point he hadn't even started exercising his (and by extension, the creature's) abilities, most likely because whatever traumatic event awakened them had not occurred yet. This… reflection… was at a further disadvantage without a host; what power he had was unfocused and subdued.

But it was still more than enough to draw the attention of shinigami.

"Restrain your reiatsu."

"Why should I?" The eerie double-tone was almost similar to the soul-scream of lesser hollow.

"You will attract shinigami."

"Let 'em come." A wide, wicked grin accompanied the response and Starrk frowned deeply.

"Why were you hiding in Kurosaki's reiatsu?"

"Hidin'? I wasn't _hiding_! King ain't fit to be King now. This is _my _time."

Starrk eyed the creature with confusion

"You're some aspect of his powers, I assume. His zanpakuto?"

"I'm a hollow, idiot."

"No you aren't."

"Eh?" For some reason, _that _gave it pause. Starrk didn't want to take the time to explain (shinigami _had _to be en route) but he wanted answers and this creature seemed to know something relevant. Maybe if he got on its good side, it could prove valuable.

"Granted, your reiatsu is similar, but you have no mask or hollow hole and your physical appearance is nothing like that of a hollow, at any evolution." He raked his eyes over the creature and shook his head. "And you have never eaten souls. You are not a hollow."

The creature snarled, offended, and lunged forward sword first. Starrk was mildly disappointed but not surprised and he enhanced his speed to dodge and come up behind it, resting a hand almost gently on its back.

"Cero."

The attack was directed downwards and away from any buildings, but it blasted a crater the size of a bus in the street and set off car alarms in the surrounding neighborhood.

Starrk descended slowly to the impact point. The blast hadn't been very powerful (for him), but it was enough to take down a wielder-less zanpakuto currently held by a child. Even one that was (partially?) hollowfied. On the ground at the exact center of the crater lay a large, cleaver like sword with a white blade and black edge, the equal opposite of the sword Aizen had shown them being held by Kurosaki in the security footage. .

The arrancar hefted the weapon with interest, holding it up to the light. The shape and reiatsu marked it obviously as some portion of Ichigo's power…or rather, the power he would someday hold. At the moment, it was far too much for the child to control. That explained the nightmares…his soul had literally been tearing itself apart. Maybe in a few years-

"Sing, Benihime."

Only supernaturally fast reflexes saved Starrk from the burst of blood-red reiatsu that impacted the spot he'd been standing a millisecond before. Without pausing to find his opponent, he lunged into sonido and fled, dodging over the rooftops.

His assailant was disturbingly good at masking his reiatsu (he'd snuck up on _Starrk, _after all - something not even Aizen had been able to accomplish), but his appearance was highly conspicuous (what sort of shinigami wore _green?_) and he did nothing to hide his pursuit. Starrk quickly pinned his location and could easily have launched a cero or bala, but instead he dodged away, moving high and then low, twisting from side to side and generally making himself a difficult target. Fighting a shinigami was not part of his plans and he had no intention of revealing anything more to this one. Even knowing about Starrk's existence was too much. (Hopefully he hadn't observed that cero.)

Thankfully, Lilynette was paying attention to his sudden distress and she opened a Garganta in preparation for retreat. When he darted over the park, he immediately pinpointed the black passage with his companion inside (she was gesturing hastily (and rudely) at him). The shinigami noticed half a second later and sped up, pulling back his sword for another shot. He was extremely fast.

Starrk was faster. The arrancar ended his sonido inside of the Garganta, gesturing for it to close even as he entered.

His pursuer pulled up at the entrance, eying it with obvious interest and confusion. Right before it closed completely, his shadowed grey eyes met Starrk's blue glare with a great deal of curiosity and a surprising lack of hatred.

* * *

.X.

Urahara watched the dimensional tear close with abject fascination. He'd never seen anything quite like it; normal hollow portals were roughly shaped and nearly random in appearance while Senkaimon were completely artificial. This was somewhere in between…and that creature had been able to control it with a mere hand signal.

Speaking of which, the hollow that came through was also an interesting study. He hadn't gotten a good look - it was _extremely _fast - but it was definitely not a normal one of its kind. Perhaps one of Aizen's newest creations? Except it didn't act like one of the rogue shinigami's lackeys. Urahara was actually quite fortunate the white creature showed up. Otherwise, he might never have detected the first dimensional interloper. It was quite disappointing that the hollow retreated so easily – Urahara had only intended to gauge his response to an attack and inquire about his intentions, after all. And maybe take some readings on reiatsu levels and abilities if it was convenient…

With a jaunty little hum, Kisuke took out a hand-held scanner and began to analyze the area around the portal's location. Later, he would go around to all of the recording devices and data collection tools he'd set up around Karakura Town to compile everything he could on the mystery visitor.

It had been quite an interesting night. He couldn't wait to see what the morning would bring.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

And so the situation becomes a bit clearer… (and a lot more complicated).

1. I know I promised Ichigo in this chapter and it took a good 2K before he even showed up, but at least Orihime got her five minutes. As did Lilynette (who insisted she would rather tagalong than stay in Hueco Mundo). And..uh…Hichigo. I hadn't planned for Lily or Orihime originally, but it all worked out in the end. The vizards didn't make it in but they'll be around eventually.

2. On the list of things that could turn out very, very badly…Starrk has just committed a possibly fatal mistake: piquing Urahara's interest. Do you think the information he gathered (flawed as it is) was really worth it? We'll see what happens when Starrk realizes Kisuke isn't with the Gotei 13, and Urahara figures out Starrk is not affiliated with Aizen. XD

3. Finally, of course, Ichigo's hollow is now…dormant, let's say. More importantly, it's in Starrk's control. That could cause some problems when Ichigo tries to become a shinigami…

4. I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter and I'm not entirely happy with the end result. Expect some cosmetic changes in the future (the plot will remain the same, though).

PS. [I can't really tell from the document preview, but I think the formatting is shot to hell. If you're having trouble, try resizing your window (I've found that approx. half width works best on my computer) or use the viewing tools at the top of the page.]

_Next up_, Starrk tries his hand at finding and questioning a shinigami, with the assistance of Harribel and her fraccion. It goes about as well as you'd imagine. Ukitake is _not_ amused.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter!**

I'd just like to thank you guys for taking the time and effort to submit your comments! :) Comments and critiques are great sources of encouragement and inspiration, and often help me update more frequently!

* * *

**Currently Relevant Time Line Information: **

-Sora Inoue was killed by injuries sustained in a car accident when Orihime was twelve years old, three years before the events of the manga/anime.  
-Starrk was originally recruited by Aizen after his 'traitor makeover' (when Aizen rejected the trappings of a shinigami, donned his white uniform, gelled his hair, and snapped his glasses), between the events of the Soul Society arc and Orihime's kidnapping.

Information acquired from the Bleach wikia and canonical sources (anime/manga/character books)

**I will include facts relevant to the current chapter on this list. In order to make the 'Five Years' timeline work, I will be taking creative liberty with some info and making assumptions about certain events (that Kubo never clarified, one way or the other), so please don't nitpick at me.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Five Years**  
Author: **darkling59**  
Rating: **T**  
Date: **7/12/2013  
**Disclaimer:** Bleach and all related characters, plots, etc. do not belong to me.  
**Warnings: **AU/fix-it fic, time travel (sort of…), assumptions about pre-series events and timelines, no pairings, some intense language

**I WILL NOT be including anything from the current manga arc. I've already plotted this story and I'm not really staying up to date on the 'revelations' in the manga. Therefore, the information I use will be how things stood at the end of the arrancar arc.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Abduction**

Despite his intense desire to have friends and comrades, Starrk wasn't really a 'people person'.

Oh, he'd worked with the other espada, of course. He'd even lived among the arrancar in Aizen's army for a brief period of time. But prior to that there were centuries upon centuries (perhaps millennia) of time spent alone. Even Lilynette was a fairly recent addition and, since she was a part of his soul and suffered from the same social isolation he did, interacting with her hardly prepared him for bonding with anyone else. As a result, he wasn't very good with other people. The fact that the only 'other people' he had access to were hollows that would rather stab him in the back, rip is throat out, or flee in terror from his presence didn't help matters.

Trust did not exist for hollows, at any power level.

Therefore, when he returned to Hueco Mundo with Ichigo's hollow powers sealed into sword form, his immediate reaction was to hide it in the deepest, darkest place he could find, beyond the reach of hollow, shinigami, and everything in between. The amount of potential power bound in the weapon was frightening and the last thing he wanted was Aizen (or any of his minions) to get his hands on it. If everything worked out the way he intended, the sword (and the malevolent spirit it contained) would remain dormant until Ichigo was ready to re-integrate it into his soul at which point…well, that was up to the human.

He never even considered using the power for himself.

He also never considered informing Harribel of its existence.

* * *

To the pack of female hollows led by Tier Harribel, Hueco Mundo seemed to steadily be growing smaller. The changes must have been happening for decades, but they were so small that no one noticed; a new scent on the wind, occasional strange sounds in the distance, holes to the Gillian Forest staying open longer than normal, fewer evolving hollows, more modified hollows…

It was only after gaining her future memories that Harribel started to notice and realize the source of the changes. Aizen had been manipulating Hueco Mundo for far longer than anyone had known. Now, she found herself crossing trails left by arrancar on a weekly basis and eyeing the distant, massive form of Los Noches with suspicion and trepidation. Three months ago she'd been one of the most powerful creatures in this dimension with little to fear and more than enough reiatsu to keep her pack safe. Now, even a mid-level Adjuchas-class arrancar would be able to meet her in an equal battle. And as Aizen created increasing numbers of arrancar and their trails appeared more often and closer to her home, the possibility of such an encounter became more likely.

Theoretically, her new 'ally' should give her an edge, but his power was less useful than she'd hoped.

Starrk didn't seem to have any interest in using his abilities. Despite the anti-Aizen stance he took during their first meeting, he had yet to make any definitive move against the shinigami and didn't appear to have any plans to change that. He was content to exert minimal effort gathering information and then wait to see what would happen. To Harribel, this sounded like a very bad idea. Los Noches was already buzzing with activity and hostile arrancar became more common every day. The longer Starrk refused to act, the more resources Aizen amassed and the more dangerous he became. She believed in actively dealing with a threat; not spending time looking for information and making backup plans. Even if they wound up killing more people than absolutely necessary by taking immediate action, sometimes sacrifices were necessary.

She did not understand his unreasonable fear of confronting Aizen. Perhaps it was because her memories were incomplete, but the lord of Los Noches was just one shinigami…surely it couldn't be that difficult to kill him if they worked together?

But Starrk did not share her point of view and as more time passed, Harribel began to seriously think about exploring other options. Ones that did not include the other ex-espada.

* * *

.X.

"What did you learn in the human world?"

Starrk, reclined comfortably on a sturdy lower branch of a crystal tree, did not open his eyes at Harribel's inquiry. He'd returned over a week ago but had only come back to her territory today. It took longer than expected to find a reliable hiding place for the sword (one he didn't think Aizen or his minions knew about). Lilynette had fun exploring and discovering the nooks and crannies of Hueco Mundo but he'd found it tedious even if the end result had been positive.

"Starrk." He could tell from her tone that she'd crossed her human arm over her chest. "Are you listening to me?"

He gave a deep sigh and turned onto his side to stare down at her. "Can't this wait?"

The Vasto Lorde didn't say anything but he could sense her disapproval. If he insisted, she wouldn't press (he was the more powerful hollow and she was not yet confident he wouldn't react violently if provoked), but she _would _stand there and stare at him until he caved and told her what she wanted to know.

Ten minutes later, he finally gave up trying to sleep and sat up on the branch, shooting her a sleepy glare without much anger behind it.

"What?"

"Did you find any answers in the human world?"

"Eh…" He shrugged one shoulder. "The humans don't remember anything. There weren't any shinigami monitoring for Garganta so they probably don't remember anything either. "

Harribel's brows drew together and she frowned deeply behind her mask. "No one remembers anything? Who did you speak to?"

"The girl Aizen kidnapped and one of the kids that came to rescue her. She couldn't even see us and he only remembered a little bit when he was dreaming."

"So they _do _remember something."

Starrk shook his head. "The kid's memories had something to do with his hollow abilities."

Her eyes widened. "_Hollow _abilities?"

"Yeah." Starrk yawned. "Is that all you wanted?"

"Not quite." She shook off her shock, consigning that tidbit of information (a human with hollow abilities?) to the back of her mind for later consideration. "What are your plans with the shinigami?"

"Well…" He rested back against the crystal trunk, gazing out pensively over the moonlit sand. "I ran into one of them in the human world, but he didn't show up until we were leaving, so I doubt he knows anything."

Not until he ran into Starrk, anyways. The arrancar decided to keep that to himself.

"And your current plans? Will you still try to speak with one of them?"

With a grimace, the arrancar lay back down. "Yeah. It's either that or try Aizen."

"And you believe a shinigami in Soul Society is favorable to Aizen?"

"Aizen is a last resort." If the traitorous shinigami found out Starrk existed, that would be it. Do or die. Aizen would not rest until Starrk was under his control or dead, and neither option sounded appealing to hollow in question.

"Very well." She was dissatisfied with his answer, but let it pass. "I assume you have a plan."

"Well…"

"Yah, and it's _stupid._" Lilynette chimed in from a different tree several meters away, startling Harribel. Normally it was obvious when the girl was present (she was hardly inconspicuous) but not this time.

"Lilynette…" He grumbled and threw one arm over his eyes. "I'm open to suggestions."

"I suggest you not be an idiot!"

"What, exactly, is the plan?" Harribel interjected.

The male arrancar sighed. "Basically, I need to isolate a shinigami somewhere none of the others will be able to reach and ask him some questions."

"That sounds…reasonable."

"Reasonable? HA! He wants to kidnap a _shinigami captain _and bring him to _Hueco Mundo!_"

The Vasto Lorde stared at Lilynette, absolutely speechless, and then turned a disbelieving gaze on Starrk who grumbled and threw the other arm over his eyes.

"Look," He caved under the weight of female incredulity and began his explanation. "It's perfectly logical. The only ones that fought against the espada, and therefore the only ones who might have relevant memories, were captain-class shinigami so we need a captain. We can't question him in Soul Society because the other shinigami would be able to sense us, so we'll bring him to Hueco Mundo."

"'_We'_?"

"I thought you were interested in finding answers. You don't want to be involved?"

Her eyes narrowed at his nonchalant tone but evaded answering. "Based on your description, you have a target in mind?"

"Mhm. It's-."

"A really bad idea!" Lilynette jumped in. "He was MEAN! And…and…not FAIR!"

Starrk gave a long-suffering sigh and sat back up. "Yeah, well, he's still the best option."

"Who?" the former tercera was becoming annoyed.

"One of the shinigami we fought. It's not important."

"If you want me to help you, then you will tell me what you know about the target." Starrk arched an eyebrow at the icy tone, but shrugged. Harribel and her fraccion were not integral to the success of his plan but they would make it easier and it wasn't like there was anything secret about the information – he just didn't think it was imperative. But if she was _that _interested…

"Alright. He's one of the shinigami I – ." Lilynette cleared her throat loudly and he rolled his eyes. "-_We_ fought. The one with long white hair."

"I do not remember him." Harribel reviewed the vague memories but came up blank. All she could remember of Starrk's opponent was a fuzzy blur of pink. "Was he wearing pink?"

"No. That was the other one."

"And why did you choose this one?"

He shrugged. "I wanted to choose a shinigami I was already familiar with, and this one was the best option of the four I …_WE…_fought. Two of the others were false-hollows, and the pink one…" His neutral expression became grave. "…That would be a bad idea."

"No shit." Lilynette mumbled, shivering slightly at the memories.

Harribel blinked rapidly. Four? He'd fought _four _captains?

"Why choose the captain over the false-hollows?"

He shrugged. "Easier. Shinigami can be disarmed by removing their zanpakuto, but the false-hollows can't be separated from their masks. Plus, this shinigami was sick; that should make him easier to handle."

"And you believe speaking with a shinigami is more important than concealing your existence?"

"Hn…" An image of the green clad shinigami from the human world wandered through his mind's eye. He'd be surprised if the Gotei didn't already have a report on him. "They're going to find out eventually. This way we'll at least be able to control what they learn."

"I see…" She stared up at him for a long moment, before nodding slowly. It still sounded unwise but Starrk should be able to handle the shinigami if anything went wrong. "Provided we are both present for his questioning, I will help you."

"Okay. I need to do some reconnaissance first to figure out the best place to grab him. We should be ready to start in a couple weeks."

* * *

**Two weeks later…**

"How fucking hard can it be to grab ONE sick old guy?!"

"Shut up Lilynette."

* * *

.X.

**Two months later…**

"Ah, well," Jushiro Ukitake shot his best friend a weak smile from the nest of pillows and warm blankets on his sickbed. "We knew it wouldn't last, ne?"

He'd been having a good run; six months without a coughing fit! It wasn't quite a record, but it was long enough that he'd grown used to waking up without the taste of blood in his mouth and the horrible lethargy that always accompanied a bout of illness. Unfortunately, his fits were always more intense after such quiet periods, as if they were gaining revenge for being ignored.

At least there were no urgent matters he needed to tend to. Soul Society had been surprisingly quiet the past few years.

Shunsui pouted childishly. "Aw, but who will keep me awake during the captain's meeting? Yama-jii's going to be reading _reports…_" He gave a mock shudder.

"I guess you'll just have to pay attention." Jushiro smiled, suppressing a chuckle through long practice (if he let it go, the resulting coughing fit would land him in the fourth division again and he'd much rather remain in the thirteenth).

"Such a cruel fate!" his friend staggered theatrically to the doorway, then turned with a smile on his face and one hand on the sliding partition. "If you're a good boy and get lots of rest, I'll tell you about it later."

With a saucy wink, he slid the door closed on Jushiro's choked laugh, leaving it cracked just enough to keep the room from becoming stuffy without letting in the evening chill.

The captain of the thirteenth division laid back, relaxing as he cast his mind over what he'd need to do to prepare for his convalescence. Kiyone and Sentaro would be by as soon as their current tasks were complete (he felt bad for hoping it would take a while, but their exuberance and noise was something he couldn't deal with just now) and he could direct them to take over his paperwork. Shunsui would make any orders that needed a captain's call. Rukia was capable of assisting, but it didn't feel right to allot her work that a lieutenant would normally manage… the poor girl was still hung up over Kaien's death, even after all these years. The entire division had felt their lieutenant's loss keenly but she had taken it personally despite everything Ukitake did to relieve her guilt. Perhaps he should consider giving her a change of scenery…

There wasn't much to delegate, to be honest. Everyone was used to Jushiro's emergency absences and the Thirteenth Division could work like a well-oiled machine in his absence.

There was nothing he had to worry about…he could rest and recover in peace…

He drowsed sleepily, fading in and out of consciousness and allowing his mind to drift as the time passed.

It was an hour or so later that he heard the outside door slowly slide open. At first, he didn't think anything of it; someone had probably brought him medicine or paperwork and was trying to deliver it quietly so as not to wake him up. It couldn't be Shunsui…captain's meetings had a tendency to drag on long into the night…but maybe someone from his own division or squad four had-

_Hollow._

His eyes shot open, immediately wide awake as the reiatsu signature registered to his currently sub-par senses.

"Wha-!" His shout was consumed by coughing and when he tried to force himself up to fight, he immediately crashed back down, too weak to even call for help. Wildly, he swung his head back and forth, trying to find the monster.

There was nothing.

His breathing slowly evened out and he closed his eyes, taking a shallow shuddering breath. It must have been a dream. He was well within the borders of Seireitei; there was no way a hollow could penetrate this deeply without an alarm being sounded.

_That didn't help Kaien. _A voice piped up in the back of his mind. _Or Miyako._

His hands clenched into fists but he forced his breathing to remain even. There was no reason to fear. No –

His body froze, every muscle suddenly tense. He didn't know why but his subconscious was telling him something was very, very wrong. Out of habit, he reached for Sogyo no Kotowari. Even weakened as he was, any opponent would take an armed shinigami captain seriously.

His hand closed over empty air.

"What…?" He croaked out, staring in incomprehension at the empty space next to the bed – _less than a foot from his head - _where he always kept his zanpakuto. It wasn't possible. He hadn't felt anything. Maybe it had fallen…but now that he was searching, he could sense that his sword was no longer in the room.

Eyes darting warily, Ukitake levered himself up until he was propped against the wall, panting and trying not to fall back into bed. He was too sick for this but he had to get out of the room. Something was going on, something bad, and he needed to warn-

"This the guy?"

He whirled, staring in near-incomprehension at the lion hollow standing directly behind him. There was no time to wonder how, but no way for him to do anything else.

"Doesn't look like much." A new voice, higher pitched and scornful.

The other female was also nearby, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the massive fangs of the feline in front of him. It…she…didn't seem to be attacking, but he knew that wouldn't last long.

All he had was kido and he'd better get it right the first time because he doubted there would be a second chance. He took as deep a breath as he could, summoning his reiatsu reserves.

"Hado-" His breath caught in his throat, rattling deep in his chest, and the spell on the tip of his tongue wavered. _No! Not now!_

The hollows seemed to be waiting for something because they did not attack, merely watched him struggle. He tried again.

"Hado-" a cough ripped its way out of his mouth, followed by another, and another. His hands came up out of sheer habit and he fell against the wall, unable to support his own weight. _No!_

"Um…" He heard the creature in the background, but could not focus over his sudden difficulty breathing. "Is he supposed to do that?"

Blood began to drip from his mouth into his cupped hands and he _couldn't breathe._

"How the fuck should I know?"

Their voices were distant and he couldn't even sense their reiatsu anymore. Maybe they would assume he was diseased and leave him alone.

Blood splashed to the floor as he fell to hands and knees, coughing from the depths of his chest as blacks spots overtook his vision. The last thing he heard before collapsing completely and falling unconscious was one of the deceptively female voices speaking over his head.

"Hey, if we don't kill him and he dies anyway, can we eat him?"

Darkness.

* * *

.X.

He woke up in a cold, shadowy place lying sprawled on his front with one arm pinned beneath his stomach and the other flung out to the side, as if he'd simply been dropped and left in the resulting position. Beneath him was a rough stone surface that scratched unpleasantly against the bare skin of his face and arms and left sandy grit in the resulting abrasions. When he tried to move, a multitude of bruises and aches made themselves known, indicating that whoever had brought him here certainly hadn't been gentle.

With a muffled groan, he pushed himself to his hands and knees, surprised to find that they would support him. Although he was still weak and shaky, the debilitating coughing was gone. It seemed his illness was willing to take a backseat for now.

"Finally awake, huh?" Jushiro's head snapped up, immediately focusing on the new threat. It was the same voice he'd heard right before collapsing; the unknown female speaking to the lion hollow. The scene that met his eyes was like something from a nightmare.

On the other side of a mostly-empty stone chamber (possibly a cave) lit by flickering torches in wall sconces was a carved staircase leading upwards. Draped over the steps were not one but _three _large hollow-animals. At the bottom of the stairs was the speaker, a deer about the size of a horse with the sharp edges of her mask tilted in his direction and a steely glare in her heterochromatic eyes.

"Leave him, Newbie." The deeper, rougher voice belonged to the lion he'd seen before who was standing a few steps up. Her eyes were also fixed on Jushiro, expression cold.

The third hollow was at the very edge of the light so he could only catch glimpses of massive scaly coils and glittering eyes in a pale mask. It did not speak, but looked bigger than the other two.

A lesser shinigami might have been scared by the sight, but Jushiro had tangled with far worse. (Granted, not on his own without a zanpakuto while wracked by illness, but they still weren't enough to intimidate him.) No, what he found particularly daunting about the situation wasn't the creatures; it was their actions.

They were _organized._

Hollows were by nature violent monsters, as cruel to each other as they were to human souls and shinigami. It was next to impossible to find two hollows willing to coexist let alone work together and he had never heard of a pack forming naturally. And for them to plan and successfully carry out the kidnapping of a shinigami, from inside Seireitei…

The implications were terrifying.

"Hey! I'm talkin' to you!" The deer minced forward, stomping her sharp hooves on the ground.

The lion interjected with another growl before Ukitake could respond. "Leave it, Rookie!"

"Ah, shut up! We need answers!"

"You arrogant little-!"

"Savages, both of you." The snake's voice was feminine and demure as she uncoiled and slithered up the steps. "As usual, it falls to me to carry out Harribel-sama's orders."

"Wh-."

"Hey!"

"SungSun, don't-!"

Ukitake was left blinking in shock as the four-legged hollows scrambled up the steps after the snake, yowling in protest at her words and scuffling with each other the whole way. Maybe organized wasn't quite the right word…

He could hear commotion returning from the top of the stairs and levered himself upright, gathering his wits and dignity for the confrontation that was surely to come. His posture was shaky, but he managed to pull himself into a respectable seated position at the only furnishing in the room, a low stone table, and arranged his thin, now dirty and torn, sleep robes as well as possible given the circumstances.

By the time his captors returned, he'd hidden all traces of uncertainty and weakness and sat straight-backed and proud, looking less like an invalid and more like a proper shinigami captain. When he saw the creature following the three hollows, he was glad he'd taken the effort.

In all his long years as a soul reaper, he'd only seen a handful of Vasto Lordes and every single one had taken at least one armed captain-class shinigami to cleanse. This one, obviously the leader of the pack, would be no different. She was roughly human-shaped and sized but her mask-teeth and the edges on her arms and legs looked blade-sharp. The glint of intelligence and control in her icy eyes indicated she would not be an easy opponent.

She came to a halt at the bottom of the staircase and eyed him coldly, completely unsympathetic to his plight.

"So you are the shinigami."

He blinked, somewhat startled even though he'd been expecting to be addressed. This situation was just too surreal; he'd _never _had cause to treat a hollow as a person before.

"Ah… I suppose?"

What was the right answer? Would a correct response get him set free?...Would a wrong one get him killed?

She 'Hmm'd' in apparent dissatisfaction. "Starrk seems to think you will be useful."

Alarm bells started ringing in the back of his mind.

"Useful?"

"Yes."

"At what, might I ask?"

Her eyes narrowed, but one of her subordinates jumped in before she could respond.

"Hey! Be respectful to Harribel-sama!" The deer snapped, stomping a hoof and menacing him with the horn on her forehead.

"That's enough, Apacci." The Vasto Lorde ('Harribel', apparently) didn't even need to raise her voice for the command to be obeyed. Her eyes never left the shinigami.

Ukitake frowned. "Why have you brought me here?"

"Starrk will explain when he arrives."

"I'm already here." Another newcomer, this one male, sauntered out of the shadows. He was tall and scruffy, with brown hair, pale eyes, dark clothes, and an unimpressed expression.

He was noticeably _not _a hollow.

Ukitake watched with complete confusion as the stranger strolled closer, completely unconcerned with the powerful monsters on every side. In fact, _they _seemed to shrink away from _him._ Unlike the creatures that had remained on the far side of the chamber from Jushiro, Starrk sauntered right up to the table and sat down directly across from him, setting his elbows on the stone and resting his chin in one hand. There was no sign of intimidation in his demeanor, simply mild interest. As soon as he was settled, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Ukitake, meeting his scrutiny without blinking.

The shinigami furrowed his brow, cocking his head and trying to fathom the situation. No matter how he looked at it, it just didn't make any _sense. _

* * *

.X.

Starrk eyed the captain thoughtfully. The other man looked almost the same, but not exactly, and he couldn't tell whether the similarities or differences were more jarring. On one hand, he was the first person (other than Starrk and Lilynette) who looked the same as his 'other' self. On the other, the powerful shinigami Starrk had battled over Karakura Town was reduced to a zanpakuto-less shaking invalid garbed in torn and blood-stained hospital clothes. It was like seeing Aizen trip and fall off his throne. Just…weird.

"Hello, Taicho-san."

The white-haired shinigami quirked an eyebrow. After a moment of consideration, he seemed to decide on a course of action and smiled slightly, guarded but friendly.

"Hello…Starrk-san, was it?"

"Mhm."

"What am I doing here, Starrk-san?"

Starrk yawned. "Well, you're a shinigami captain. That means you know what goes on in Soul Society, right?"

Ukitake's smile vanished and he eyed Starrk warily without answering. After a moment, Starrk shrugged and continued.

"We've got some questions for you."

"I see." The shinigami's voice was hard. "And if I refuse to answer?"

"It would be best that you cooperate." Harribel's words were just short of threatening from her spot in the background.

Far from intimidated, the captain met her stare for stare until Starrk cleared his throat loudly, bringing them back to the matter at hand.

"Look, we don't want to hurt you. And I doubt any of the questions will violate your 'shinigami oath' or whatever, so…"

Ukitake's guarded expression wavered slightly, an amused smile curling at the edge of his lips. "Shinigami oath?"

"Or whatever."

"Hm." His eyes wandered between Starrk and Harribel for a moment before focusing on the less intimidating and more reasonable (and human) captor, who inexplicably appeared to be in control of the situation. "I do not appreciate being abducted and coerced. If you release me, perhaps we can discuss this further."

It was Starrk's turn to raise an eyebrow in disbelief. "You must think I'm stupid, Taicho-san."

"If you are honest in your claim then you will not object…"

"Nice try." He yawned. "No."

Jushiro eyed him carefully, apparently expecting a more negative (or physical) response. When it wasn't forthcoming, he frowned. The situation was not becoming any clearer and he was tired of being caught wrong-footed.

"You kidnapped me from my bed, brought me here against my will, and intend to interrogate me. And you are allied with _hollows_. Do you really expect me to trust you?"

Starrk eyed him, mildly surprised by the outburst. But he supposed it was understandable.

"I don't need your trust. All I want are answers."

"And you think I'll give them to you, just like that?"

"Why not?"

Ukitake was incredulous. "Starrk-san, I do not know where you are from, but you obviously know very little about shinigami."

The arrancar gave a one-shouldered shrug and yawned again. "Never really cared."

It was somehow impossible to stay displeased with the man for very long.

"And yet, you cared about hollows." Ukitake eyeballed the Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde in the shadows, moderating his voice so it wouldn't carry as far. "What are doing in such…ah…_interesting_ company?"

_That _finally got Starrk to lift his chin from his hand and lose some of the half-asleep look in his eyes.

"…What?"

"Hollows do not work well with others, Starrk-san. I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish or why, but I assure you this is _not _the way to achieve it." Perhaps appealing to his better nature would work.

Starrk stared for a long minute before sighing and crossing his arms, eying Ukitake across the table.

"I don't think you quite understand your situation, Taicho-san." He shifted, leaning back and allowing the cloth over his chest to part, revealing a gaping hole in his sternum and a row of sharp white teeth ringing his neck. "Now…" He cocked his head and frowned across the short space. "Maybe we should try this again."

Absolute incomprehension caused Ukitake's eyes to shoot wide open and his breath to stutter. This could not be possible. He stared between the hollow hole, Starrk's face, and back repeatedly, trying and failing to understand. His mind was absolutely blank. Ridiculously, the most plausible explanation he could think of was that this was all a fevered dream. Or nightmare.

"You don't know me?" Starrk's question was gently probing, but he seemed more interested in the reaction than he had in the entire conversation beforehand.

"Know…what?" the captain of the thirteenth choked in surprise, then shook his head as much to clear it as to indicate a negative. "Of course not! Who…_What_…are you?"

Starrk frowned deeply. "…You don't remember anything?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He couldn't take his eyes off the hollow hole in the other man's chest.

"And you don't know what I am."

The definitive tone of the statement finally brought Ukitake partially out of his shock with the realization that he was still a captive and he should be paying close attention and guarding his words. Reflexively answering anything the other man asked was a bad idea.

"No. I…Should I?"

This was apparently the wrong answer as Starrk immediately frowned and adjusted his position on the floor so he was slumped forward a bit closer to Ukitake, posture more intense. The hollows across the chamber shifted restlessly, one of the animals growling deep in her throat.

Funny, for a moment there Ukitake had actually thought he was getting control of the situation. That illusion was well and truly destroyed.

"You've never heard of anyone like me?" Apparently, that was a very important piece of information but as much as Jushiro wracked his brain for any reference to a creature such as Starrk, no matter how fleeting, he came up empty.

"Hn." The arrancar read his captive's answer in his expression. "What about the other shinigami? They never said anything?"

Suggesting _someone _should know _something_.

Ukitake did not like the implications.

"I am quite sure. No one has ever mentioned anything like you before."

Starrk raised an eyebrow, and Ukitake belatedly realized he should have watched his words a bit closer. If he was trying to secure his freedom, calling his captor a 'thing' was not the best way to make a good impression. Thankfully, the creature seemed willing to ignore it.

"What about the false hollows? They don't know anything either?"

"The…what?"

"The shinigami with hollow powers."

"The _What?!_"

Starrk pulled back slightly at Ukitake's completely flummoxed expression, confused.

For his part, the captain could not figure out if Starrk was trying to be insulting or if he honestly thought such a travesty would ever be tolerated by the Gotei 13.

"I assure you, Starrk-san, no shinigami has _ever _had hollow abilities."

Starrk's eyebrow kicked up. "None? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely positive."

"…Hm." The arrancar abruptly unfolded from his seated position, stretching to his full height with ease and turning away from the table.

"Thank you, Taicho-san. You've been…eh. Helpful, I guess." He tossed over his shoulder.

"I…what? That's it?" Jushiro tried to rise as gracefully, but spending so long seated on the hard stone floor combined with the weakness from his illness and bruises from the earlier abduction made him wince and fall back down.

"Yup." He vanished up the stone staircase. After a final frigid glare, the Vasto Lorde followed him, leaving her subordinates behind.

For a moment, he thought they would leave him in peace to contemplate his exchange with Starrk. Then…

"Don't get any funny ideas, shinigami!" The voice was raucous, female, and very young. Jushiro actually jumped from surprise when a small form garbed in black dropped down in front of him on the table. He found himself staring into the pale face of a pre-teen girl with green hair, pink eyes…and part of a hollow mask on top of her head.

"Ah…Hello?"

"HA! Don't try to play stupid with ME! Starrk's an idiot but I'm not! I know you can't be trusted! I'm going to watch you EVERY MINUTE!"

"…"

"Cuz I could TOTALLY take you!"

She puffed out her scrawny chest and glared down at his seated form with all of the authority demanded by her diminutive height. He was absolutely certain he could disable her with ease, zanpakuto or not.

"Ya hear me, shinigami?!"

He blinked, then sighed quietly and brought the palm of his hand to his forehead. After so many revelations, he was inured to the shock. But not the confusion.

Seriously…what on Earth was going on?

* * *

.X.

The captain's meeting was well underway when the alarm began to sound, interrupting Yama-jii and causing confusion and alarm as everyone suddenly tried to speak at once.

The sound of pounding feet brought silence to the gathering, broken by the loud slam of the door being pushed open.

"Kyoraku-taicho! KYORAKU-TAICHO!" Kiyone skidded around the doorway, nearly slamming into the opposite wall in her haste.

"Whoa! Easy Kotet-"

"It's Ukitake-taicho!" She interrupted him in her haste. "The hollows-!"

Kyoraku vanished in a burst of shunpo before she could finish, bound for the thirteenth division and completely ignoring the shouting of the other captains in his wake. Seireitei was in chaos but he ignored it for now, instead making his way to Jushiro's bedchamber, which he'd left barely an hour before.

What he found was Sentaro crouched on the floor, head buried in his hands. At his feet was...

Shunsui must have made an inadvertent noise at the sight of Jushiro's blood because the third seat's head snapped up and saw him.

"Kyoraku-taicho!" His normally loud voice was a mere shadow of itself. "W-we found...there's blood. And hollow reiatsu and claw marks."

The captain of the eighth stepped forward and stared down at the blood. It wasn't enough to be fatal but it was very fresh and, as Sentaro had said, surrounded by the claw-marks of a relatively small hollow with strong reiatsu.

"Also...we found this…"

Shunsui stared at the zanpakuto being offered from the third seat's trembling hands, a sinking feeling deep in his gut. Sogyo no Kotowari lay safe in its sheath, physically untouched by whatever had happened. But Shunsui could sense its despair and ire at being forcibly separated from its wielder. Ukitake would never willingly leave his sword behind.

Whatever had happened, Jushiro's hadn't even had the chance to fight back. And wherever he was now, he was all but helpless.

Shunsui accepted the zanpakuto, bringing it to his chest and twisting his hands tightly around the sheath. So long as the spirit of Sogyo no Kotowari was present, Jushiro was alive.

If it vanished…

There would be hell to pay.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

H'okay…I was really looking forward to writing this chapter but it turned out to be really, really hard. I have a very clear picture of what is happening in my mind, but translating that to text isn't going so well. As a result, there are parts of this chapter I like and others that are just…meh. It's also a bit shorter than I'd planned and contains fewer plot-relevant bits, but the disaster that was last chapter convinced me to spread the material out over 2-3 chapters rather than packing it into one. Shunsui might be a bit OOC at the end, but I was thinking of his reaction when Wonderweiss dropped Ukitake in the Karakura battle...I don't think it's much of a stretch to think he'd vow vengeance on whoever hurt his friend.

Speaking of parts I like…I think the scene where Jushiro meets Starrk is my favorite. The two of them are just so much fun to write. XD (Though Lilynette's pretty fun too…and I liked writing Jushiro with Shunsui…) Maybe I should try a Jushiro-centric story once I've finished all my Starrk stories. What do you think?

An important point I want to address is my current lack of inspiration for Bleach, due to the recent manga chapters. However, I've explained in part or in full many, many times (through pm, review, updates, etc.) and I have a feeling most of you have probably already seen it. If you haven't and you want more detail, please look at my profile or the most recent chapter of "How Coyote Starrk became a Member of the Gotei 13 (On Accident)."

Also, I apologize for how long it's been taking me to respond to reviews in the past two weeks. Real Life has been…well, not good. I promise I will try to respond to everybody even if it takes me a while.

Erm…what else…oh!

Apacci's 'heterochromatic eyes' refers to her having one blue and one brown eye. The only pictures I could find of her as a deer only showed one side at a time, but her differently colored eyes are quite obvious in arrancar form.

* * *

**Please Review & let me know what you think!**

Reviews are a great source of encouragement and inspiration so more reviews = more (& faster) updates.

And a big 'Thank You' to those of you who reviewed last chapter! **mist shadow, wolfeclipse25, ennui deMorte, Alowl, dancingjadedragon, KyuukiTheAnimeFreak, Guest, Zaralann, **and** Guest(2)**; You guys are awesome!

* * *

**Currently Relevant Time Line Information: **

-Starrk was originally recruited by Aizen after his 'traitor makeover' (when Aizen rejected the trappings of a shinigami, donned his white uniform, gelled his hair, and snapped his glasses), between the events of the Soul Society arc and Orihime's kidnapping.  
-Harribel was originally recruited by Aizen around the same time as Starrk (as evidenced by the state of Aizen's makeover)  
-Metastacia killed Kaien and Miyako 30-40 years before 'Bleach', based on when Aaroneiro gained his powers and when Aizen was experimenting on hollows of that type.

Information acquired from the Bleach wikia and canonical sources (anime/manga/character books)

**I will include facts relevant to the current chapter on this list. In order to make the 'Five Years' timeline work, I will be taking creative liberty with some info and making assumptions about certain events (that Kubo never clarified, one way or the other), so please don't nitpick at me.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **Five Years**  
Author: **darkling59**  
Rating: **T**  
Date: **8/30/2013  
**Disclaimer:** Bleach and all related characters, plots, etc. do not belong to me.  
**Warnings: **AU/fix-it fic, time travel (sort of…), assumptions about pre-series events and timelines, no pairings

**I WILL NOT be including anything from the current manga arc. I've already plotted this story and I'm not really staying up to date on the 'revelations' in the manga. Therefore, the information I use will be how things stood at the end of the arrancar arc.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Knowledge**

Lilynette HATED being ignored. It was the result of being one of the smallest, physically weakest arrancar in Las Noches. Before joining Aizen, Starrk always treated her as an equal and regarded her decision with just as much weight as his own. Afterwards, she was constantly dismissed, belittled and overlooked. When she WAS taken into consideration, it was in comparison to her older, more intimidating companion and usually derogatory:

'_Did you know the primera's fraccion is a KID?',  
'Huh, he must be soft in the head to take THAT into battle',  
'Why doesn't he just kill her and find someone worthy?',  
'Brat's going to get him killed'…_

Starrk never treated her any different but the constant derision from everyone else was frustrating and heartrending. She'd had so much hope about finally finding friends and _this _was the result. However, Lilynette wasn't one to be kept down for long and she quickly decided the answer to her problems was proving herself in battle (and taking her frustrations out on Starrk in the meantime). If she won against a shinigami, the others would HAVE to listen to her. And she'd really tried! In Karakura, she'd thrown everything she had into the battle against the white-haired taicho. It didn't work but she was convinced she could have done better if he'd treated her as a real opponent and engaged in swordplay instead of taking the _coward's _way out and using his kido tricks. He acted like she was a little kid (which she HATED) and tried to drive a wedge between her and Starrk. She was a centuries old arrancar, more than capable of making her own decisions _thank you very much._

And now that he was her captive (Starrk's captive. Same difference.) and should be cowering and begging for mercy…

HE WASN'T EVEN PAYING ATTENTION TO HER!

"_Don't ignore me!"_

"Whoa!" Jushiro ducked when the child lashed out with one foot, easily evading the awkward kick and eyeing her with concern. "Careful there!"

She scowled, shrugged her wrap closer around her body and glared down at him. "I SAID you'd better watch it! I'm going to be watching you the whole time!"

He chuckled and shot the girl what he thought was a winning grin. "That's alright! I don't mind the company."

Her glare was suspicious and confused. No shinigami should be that accepting of a hollow as…

"But where are your parents? You should be home tucked into bed. It isn't safe here and I'm sure they're very worried about you."

"I'm NOT a KID!" She snarled and her covered eye began lighting up as she charged a cero. Jushiro's eyes widened as a green glow built in front of her mouth and he instinctively raised his hands to shield with kido. "CER-urk!"

"Whoa!" Apacci grabbed the back of Lilynette's clothes and hefted her off the table, effectively clotheslining her and cutting off the command before she could fire. "Harribel-sama ordered us NOT to hurt the shinigami, Runt."

Lilynette squirmed out of the deer's grip and glared up at her. "So? Starrk didn't say anything. Not that it would matter if he did, but he _didn't._"

Lying at the foot of the stairs, Mila Rose snorted. "Like we give a rat's ass what _he _thinks. If Harribel-sama wants the shinigami alive, we keep him alive." She eyed Jushiro like a cat with a mouse. "For now."

Jushiro's smile thinned out but before he could respond, Lilynette put her hands on her hips and glared at the three Adjuchas. "That's _stupid._ This was all Starrk's plan; your boss is following his lead. Besides, _I_ never got those orders."

"So?" Apacci herded the child arrancar away from the table and Lilynette grudgingly followed her lead. She'd probably be able to win if they fought; they were just adjuchas after all; but they were trying to play nice and she didn't want to make them mad at her. Plus, despite her higher evolution, she was considerably smaller and there were three of them to her lonesome one and she wasn't nearly as confident about winning in an uneven fight. Starrk would help, but that would be humiliating and would destroy the tenuous alliance he'd been building with Harribel. That didn't mean she was going to give up gracefully, though.

She snorted and flung her head back, pulling her clothes tight around her shoulders and stalking up the stairs. "Fine! I'll get Starrk to give you better orders!"

The Adjuchas ignored the girl as she stomped away in search of Starrk. Once she was gone, they turned predatory glares on the shinigami prisoner.

"Why can't we kill him again?"

"Harribel-sama said we needed him alive."

Ukitake eyed them carefully. His instincts were telling him to be very careful around this group, more so than the others.

"Yeah, but I'm _hungry. _When do you think Starrk will be done with him? I'll bet that much reiatsu would keep us fed for _months._"

Jushiro's breathing stuttered in horror. Was that to be his fate?

Mila Rose snorted. "He's probably done _now_. I'll bet he's keeping the captain for himself." Her muzzle couldn't quite sneer but her voice got the impression across. "I haven't seen him eat since he showed up. He must be starving."

"That's not fair! We helped catch him; we should get some of the reward!"

"Yeah, well, death's not fair. As much as I hate to agree with the kid, Starrk's running the show right now. If he wants the shinigami, he'll get it."

"You are making illogical assumptions." Sungsun's lilting voice emanated from the shadows further up the stairs. "I am sure Harribel-sama would not allow Starrk to treat us unfairly."

Ukitake managed to maintain a blank expression through sheer force of will, just barely keeping his horror and disgust from overwhelming him. He wasn't dead yet; there was still hope of escape or rescue. If he managed to convince Starrk he could be useful, or if he could get a message to Shunsui, even if he managed to find Sogyo no Kotowari…

An image of Kaien, devoured from within by a monster of the same species as the animals before him, flashed through his mind's eye. He clenched his jaw in resolution. It did not matter how strong they were or what they had planned; he would _not _fall prey to these creatures.

* * *

Starrk and Harribel exited the spire together but immediately branched away once outside. The Vasto Lorde strode several yards further into the desert, shoulders tense with unspoken emotion while her companion only shifted a few feet to the left, just enough to slouch against the side of the doorway.

"He's useless." Harribel's voice was absolutely FRIGID and when she turned to stare at Starrk her eyes were narrow with anger and accusation. "This was a mistake."

Though taken aback by her response, Starrk didn't show it. He shrugged and avoided her gaze in favor of staring thoughtfully into the distance. "Just because he doesn't know anything doesn't mean he's useless."

Harribel's eyes narrowed. She was in NO mood for his evasion. "I thought that was the whole point of this venture. That is why I agreed to put myself and my fraccion in danger by entering Soul Society."

This time he blinked and glanced at her in mild surprise. "Were you worried? He's not dangerous. He doesn't even have his zanpakuto."

"He's a shinigami CAPTAIN, Starrk. You said yourself that he matched you in battle."

"He didn't WIN."

"Nor did he die and YOU were the one defeated." Looking at him, she found her ire fading but not her dissatisfaction. Sneaking into Seireitei had been a nerve-wracking venture and a legitimate risk to life and limb. She was old and wise enough to know that shinigami weren't actually impenetrable monsters (as lesser hollows believed) but she still felt instinctive fear and hate in their presence. And their prisoner...in spite of Starrk's reassurances, she could feel the stifling pressure of the captain's reiatsu from all the way across the room (HER home. HER safe place. HER territory. Now INVADED.). The so-called 'sick and harmless' shinigami was dangerous. And Starrk DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE. He walked right up to it without a second thought and held a civil conversation with their sworn and hated enemy.

"Harribel?"

She blinked at his mildly concerned expression, coming back to herself to realize she'd been staring at him intently. She sighed and relaxed her shoulders, resigned to his lack of malice. Besides, despite the outlandishness of his plan, nothing had gone wrong so far. Maybe he really could make this work.

"Yes?"

"We can still use the captain." An offhanded comment Lilynette made in the human world had spawned an idea that, given the shinigami's lack of knowledge, suddenly seemed usable. "If we tell him what's going on with Aizen, maybe the shinigami will deal with the situation."

That...wasn't a bad idea, in theory. In PRACTICE...

"That would require RETURNING the shinigami."

"Mhm."

"Starrk, are you COMPLETELY devoid of survival instincts?"

He turned to look at her, taken aback. This was the first time she'd dared ridicule him to his face.

Her masked scowl came through in her voice. "The shinigami were enough of a risk when they did not know we existed and thought hollows could not enter Soul Society. Now that we have snatched a captain out of Seireitei without being caught, they are going to be on high alert. And they might mistake YOU for human, but the girls and I would not be so fortunate. Despite your strength, I highly doubt you could deal with every single shinigami in the Gotei 13 on your own."

"I'll figure it out."

_Typical_. "And what makes you think the captain will believe you? Aizen is a shinigami and we are hollows. _Monsters_, to his kind."

He dismissed her bitter words with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, but we've got proof of shinigami in Hueco Mundo. We'll give him enough evidence to get Aizen's name on his own. "

"You mean _you _will show him."

"Hm?"

"I want no part in this. Now that we've questioned him we should kill him."

He grumbled. "That seems extreme."

Which meant 'no'.

Harribel shook her head in disgust and turned back to the entrance. Starrk watched her go with mild confusion. He thought she'd have more questions.

"What are you doing?"

"We're going hunting. If you want your shinigami to stay alive, my girls need to feed."

Before he could respond, Lilynette barreled out of the entrance, nearly banging into Harribel in her haste.

"Starrk, Apacci won't let me shoot him with a cero!"

"…What?"

"The shinigami! I really want to nail him with a cero; he totally deserves it!; but the fraccion won't listen to me!"

Starrk rolled his eyes. "Good. We want him alive."

"I wasn't going to KILL him. Just…hurt him a little…"

"We also want his cooperation. Leave him alone."

"What? Why?!" She scowled and crossed her arms, the picture of juvenile obstinacy. "I'm going to cero him, and you can't stop me!"

"Then wait until after he's helped us."

She scowled but subsided when he followed Harribel.

* * *

All things considered, Jushiro was relieved when the Vasto Lorde called her pack away to hunt. He was treated to another set of glares full of hunger and hatred but was more interested in how they seemed to be leaving him alone and giving him a chance to escape. Unfortunately, as soon as the four females left, Starrk and the young girl returned. Even though the other man made no threatening movements and gave no sign of being hungry, Jushiro could not shake the adjuchas' words from his head. As the hollow got closer, Ukitake found himself becoming tense and having to suppress the urge to warn him away.

Starrk eyed the shinigami with mild concern. His body language was markedly different than before. Strange…he would have expected a captive to be more scared right after waking up, not twenty minutes later.

Not one to beat around the bush, he sat and crossed his arms on the table, meeting the shinigami's eyes with a non-threatening stare. "What happened?"'

"Hm?" Jushiro's smile was obviously strained.

"You're scared. What happened?"

"Nothing important!" He waved a hand dismissively. "But I am curious…what do you have planned for me now?"

"Hn." Starrk wasn't fooled, but he didn't push. It wasn't really his business, anyway. "I guess that depends. Are you sure you don't know anything?"

The captain tensed. If the adjuchas were correct then Starrk was seconds away from deeming him expendable. As surreptitiously as possible, he began to make hand gestures in his lap, carefully forming the relevant incantation in his head. There would be no time for mistakes.

"I am not certain what you want from me..."

"Taicho-san, you are acting rather strange…"

"No, no! I'm fine. Just…kidnapped, you know how it is."

Starrk furrowed his brow in confusion. "…Not really…"

"I'll bet I scared him!" Lilynette interjected from the background. "I almost fired a cero into his face and-"

For a moment, Starrk turned his head away from the shinigami, giving attention to his fraccion.

"Bakudo 4! Hainawa!"

Starrk's head whipped back around in alarm just in time to be hit in the chest by a crackling rope of yellow energy.

"Wha-?!" He pulled back, clawing at the spell as it crawled around his arms and torso, too fast and close to be cero'd away.

"Ack!" Lilynette yelped as a stream of energy branched off and dragged her in, slamming her into Starrk's back and tightly binding them together. They immediately overbalanced and crashed to the ground in a tangled, struggling heap.

Even before he'd finished casting, Jushiro was up and moving. A quick shunpo to the base of the stairs to gauge his health, and another to the exit. It wouldn't take long for Starrk to break the kido.

The sight of moonlight streaming in the cave entrance was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen; as soon as he got out, he could release his reaitsu, making a beacon for any other spiritually sensitive beings in the area. Even if he couldn't escape (it was a miracle his health had help up so far), Shunsui would be able to track a signal of that intensity. Jushiro stumbled to a halt at the entrance, panting but triumphant.

Only to be met by the desolate sight of sand and dead trees stretching as far as eye could see, lit by a giant crescent moon in a starless black sky.

_Hueco Mundo._

He hadn't even considered they might have removed him from his own realm. It was inconceivable. In his two thousand years alive, he'd only heard of a handful of shinigami that managed to get to the world of the hollows. Not a single one ever returned.

Distantly, he noticed when the sounds of struggle vanished and Starrk appeared behind him.

"You can run away if you want." The creature stepped up to his side but made no move to re-capture him. "But I doubt you'd get very far. You reek of shinigami reiatsu and sickness; an adjuchas would snap you up as soon as you passed out of Harribel's territory."

Jushiro opened and closed his mouth, unable to find the words to express how badly his hopes had been dashed. His eyes remained fixed on the barren, empty landscape. There would be no rescue and no escape. He was trapped.

For a long time, Ukitake just stood there, mind scrambling to find some way, _any _way to turn this to his advantage. His captor wandered away at some point, apparently bored with waiting. Thankfully, he showed no sign of impatience or anger at being attacked and seemed content to remain lying on a branch in the nearest crystal tree. The child joined him shortly, scurrying around the desert and tree branches with the ease of long practice. Jushiro absently noted and catalogued their behavior but for now he was more worried about himself. In normal hostage situations, the best thing to do was keep the kidnapper talking; buy time until rescue arrived. Even with the peculiarity of this situation, he'd automatically assumed that would be the case. Shunsui would find him no matter where he was hidden – the Gotei's influence was vast, encompassing all of Soul Society and most of the human world. But not Hueco Mundo.

Eventually, Jushiro squared his shoulders and pulled himself together. Throwing a pity party wasn't going to help anyone; if no one was coming to rescue him, then he'd just have to rescue himself. He snuck a peek at Starrk, taking in his half-lidded eyes and bored expression and remembering the lack of hostility in their interactions so far. Based solely on first hand experiences, he had trouble believing Starrk's plans involved killing him.

If Starrk was telling the truth about not wanting to hurt him, then his best bet was to convince the other man to take him home. Make a connection, become friends, and make Starrk WANT to make him happy. But first things first. None of this would matter if Starrk was the monster the adjuchas believed him to be. Jushiro brushed the sand out of his clothes and set off for Starrk's tree. Time to get some answers.

* * *

Starrk noticed the shinigami's approach but didn't bother to move.

"Ah, hello?"

"Hn." He slanted a look at the speaker, absently noting that he looked markedly better than he had when he realized they were in Hueco Mundo. "What?"

"May I speak with you?"

"Sure." He closed his eyes, listening halfheartedly.

"…Could you come down here, please?"

He sighed but grudgingly left the tree, landing upright a few feet in front of the shinigami. "What?"

The captain blinked and tensed at the sudden proximity (the closest he'd been to any of his captors) but gave him a guarded smile. "To be honest, I'm confused as to what I'm doing here."

"We wanted to ask you some questions."

"Yes, but why me in particular? And why did you bring me to Hueco Mundo? Wouldn't it have been easier to target a less high profile victim or simply ask me in my room?"

"I chose you because I thought you'd be easier to handle and we brought you here because we didn't want to run into the other shinigami."

"I see. And now that you've determined I do not know the answers to your questions, what do you intend to do with me?"

"I'm working on it."

"That is not reassuring, Starrk-san."

"Eh," Starrk scowled irritably and scratched at his faded goatee, directing his gaze away from the other man. "I'll let you know when I figure it out."

"Very well." Ukitake eyed him, building up to his most important inquiry. "Starrk-san…this is a bit awkward, but may I ask you a personal question?"

The arrancar eyed him right back, confused by the uncomfortable tone and curious as to the subject. "I guess."

"What do you eat?"

"…What?"

"Do you eat other hollows?"

"That is a very strange question, Taicho-san."

"I suppose. The hollows that were here earlier mentioned that you had forbidden them from eating me. One had a theory as to why that might be."

And suddenly his behavior since being alone with the adjuchas made a whole lot more sense. Starrk groaned and flopped back on the sand, throwing one arm over his face. The shinigami stepped away, taken aback by his sudden change in position.

"I'm not going to _eat_ you." His voice was muffled.

Jushiro raised his eyebrows, amused by the reaction. "I must say I'm relieved to hear that. But…why? If you truly are a hollow…"

"Eh…it's complicated."

"Try. Please. I'm sure you understand why I'm concerned."

Starrk shrugged. "I'm not that kind of hollow."

Jushiro considered pushing but decided against it; as interesting as he found a heretofore unknown breed of hollow, it was more important to befriend Starrk and (hopefully) lay the groundwork for his escape.

"I see. That's a relief!" The shinigami seated himself gingerly next to the reclining hollow. "Starrk-san, I'm afraid we got off on the wrong foot."

"…What?"

"I would like to wipe the slate clean and start over." He smiled as Starrk propped himself up on his elbows and arched his eyebrows in interest. It was a good sign.

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

"Hello, my name is Jushiro Ukitake, captain of the thirteenth division in the Gotei 13. I am pleased to meet you." He bowed his head politely in greeting.

Starrk blinked dubiously but decided to humor the crazy shinigami. He nodded politely back. "Coyote Starrk, hollow in Hueco Mundo, previously of Las Noches. And I highly doubt that, Taicho-san."

"Please, call me Ukitake."

"Ukitake-san, then."

"Seriously?!" Lilynette's voice shrilled angrily from the tree overhead. Jushiro's gaze snapped towards the sound but she was hidden in the shadows. "What the hell, Starrk? You're not actually going to believe this bastard, are you?!"

Shocked by the rudeness and disrespect, especially considering how intimidated the adjuchas had been by the mere mention of Starrk, Jushiro directed a wide-eyed look at his companion. But the brunette just yawned and shrugged.

"That's Lilynette."

"Lilynette Gingerbuck!" She corrected.

When it became clear Starrk wasn't going to do anything else, the shinigami craned his neck in an attempt to see her. "Ah, hello! We would be happy if you came down and joined us!"

"Yeah, right. Shove it, shinigami!"

"Well that's not very nice. Children should-."

"I'M NOT A KID!"

"She's still upset you attacked us." Starrk muttered, just loud enough for Ukitake to hear. "And I think I landed on her while we were struggling…"

"Oh. Er… sorry?"

"You SHOULD be sorry!" She barked. Starrk yawned and closed his eyes.

"I am! I assure you, I did not mean any harm or offence. Is there any way I could make it up to you?"

"You could piss off and DIE."

Jushiro's encouraging smile (things were going so well with Starrk!) faded in disappointment. He loved kids and often took it personally if they didn't like him back. BUT he had a secret weapon…

"Would you like some candy?"

"…Huh?"

"I'm sure I have some in here somewhere…" He dug through his pockets, emerging triumphant with a handful of wrapped hard candy. (If anyone asks, he uses it to sooth his throat during attacks. Otherwise, he just likes sweet things.) "Ah, here we go!"

"What's that?" He caught a glimpse of movement as Lilynette inched closer.

"Candy! It's very tasty." He unwrapped one and stuck it in his mouth to suck on, making a show of enjoying it.

"I don't want your food." The girl scoffed but jumped out of the tree, obviously interested. "…It smells good."

"I have cherry…" He cajoled. "Or peppermint. That one's my favorite."

Lilynette eyed him suspiciously but couldn't find any hidden agenda in his smile so she snatched a piece of candy and shoved it into her mouth, wrapper and all. Before Jushiro could protest, she bit down and there was a loud *crunch* as it was reduced to tiny pieces. While he tried to figure out how to respond to _that_, her expression morphed into surprised pleasure.

"It's GOOD!"

He grinned.

Forgotten in the background, Starrk watched with mild amusement as the shinigami used treats to coax Lilynette out of her bad mood and try to make friends. He doubted it would work (Lilynette was still sore about her treatment during the Karakura battle and Ukitake had too much trouble seeing her as anything other than a child) but improving relations between the two of them could only make Jushiro's time in Hueco Mundo less painful for everyone involved. Plus, it might make him more amenable to complying with Starrk's plans when they came to fruition.

All in all, it was a better outcome than he'd expected.

* * *

Time passed and Jushiro quickly lost track of how long he'd been a prisoner. Day and night had no meaning in the eternal blackness of Hueco Mundo and the hollows followed no set schedule; when hungry they hunted, when tired they slept, when bored they sparred or bickered with each other. Even more confusing, each creature had a different set of physical requirements; only the adjuchas needed to eat (although Harribel accompanied them on their hunts), Starrk and Lilynette were the only ones he saw sleep (he didn't know if it was necessary or a choice), and they did not go out of their way to socialize with each other or keep a structured schedule. When he asked how they marked the passage of time, he was met with bemusement.

_How do you tell how much time has passed?_

_Does it matter? _

_Well…yes. _

_Harribel's fraccion have hunted four times since you came here, you've slept seven times, and there have been two dust storms._

_Oh…_

_Ukitake-san, most hollows tell time by how hungry they are and how long it's been since their last hunt._

_Then how do you keep track of the outside world?_

_We don't._

To confuse his senses even more, it seemed his own physical needs were different in Hueco Mundo. It took a while for him to notice because he couldn't tell the passage of time, but after sleeping five times and not feeling a single pang of hunger or thirst, he posited the question to Starrk. With some prodding and a promise to keep Lilynette occupied so the other man could take a nap, he received the grudging explanation that Hueco Mundo had so much reishi in the air that he was probably gaining sustenance simply by breathing, as the more powerful, non-evolving hollows did. It was also likely the reason he had not had a coughing attack since being kidnapped; the reishi couldn't heal the disease, but it minimized the effects. It was a remarkable discovery. If only he could somehow mimic the effects in Soul Society…

His continued efforts to find a way home had yet to pan out, but he was hopeful. Starrk was quiet and withdrawn but not unfriendly and he did everything in his power to keep Jushiro as comfortable as possible. Once, when Jushiro got caught out in a sand storm with the two arrancar, the elder sheltered him along with Lilynette, anchoring them with his own reiatsu until the intense cyclone moved away. Ukitake was touched by the gesture and even more so by how Starrk seemed to do it on instinct and didn't ask for or expect anything in return. When he realized that Jushiro's clothes had been reduced to rags by the harsh living conditions (something that would have taxed even shinigami clothes, to say nothing of a flimsy sleeping robe), he vanished one day and reappeared with a new outfit for him. Granted, they were only peasant clothes from Rukongai and looked a bit worse for wear, but it's the thought that counts.

Unfortunately, the arrancar was adamant about not letting him go or allowing him to pass word to Soul Society. Even impassioned pleas were rebuffed.

_Please, Starrk. I have friends and family who probably think I'm dead. _

_I'm not taking you to Soul Society._

_What if I wrote a letter? You could deliver it; I wouldn't try to escape._

_I'm not going to Soul Society either._

_What about-_

_No, Ukitake-san._

As more time passed, Jushiro became bolder in his requests and demands but he was careful never to push too far; he never forgot Starrk was his captor. Or that he was the only thing keeping him alive.

Unlike Starrk, Harribel and her fraccion were not interested in making friends or easing his experience. Her glacial glare and the adjuchas' hungry growls told him everything he needed to know and always reminded him he was a helpless shinigami trapped amongst hollows. He often wondered what caused the two diametrically different packs (Starrk with Lilynette and Harribel with her adjuchas) to work together. Surely it wasn't simply to bring him to Hueco Mundo? He'd never gotten any clarification about Starrk's original questions or his…_peculiar _breed of hollow_,_ and the arrancar refused to divulge his future intentions in regards to the shinigami prisoner. Despite spending so much time together, Starrk was as much of a mystery as he'd been the first day.

* * *

Starrk took his time formulating the next phase of the plan. The broad strokes weren't complicated (he knew where he needed to go and what needed to be done) but the smaller details were critical. Despite Jushiro's friendly demeanor and occasional promise to remain silent if his kidnappers would just take him home, Starrk knew everything the captain learned in Hueco Mundo would be reported to his superiors. It was Starrk's responsibility to make sure what Ukitake learned would (a) condemn Aizen, (b) NOT harm any of the hollows involved, (c) NOT reveal anything important about the existence of arrancar, (d) NOT make Aizen suspicious (at least, not of anyone in Hueco Mundo), and (e) NOT give the shinigami anything they could turn to their advantage.

While he was deciding on what exactly to say, Harribel and her fraccion roamed further abroad during their hunts, keeping an eye on the edge of Aizen's territory and the arrancar that passed freely in and out of it. Harribel was still unhappy about Ukitake but she agreed to monitor who would be present and when, allowing Starrk to choose the best time to show the captive their evidence of shinigami wrongdoing. They couldn't get too close to Las Noches (a good portion of the desert was already under surveillance) but Aizen's influence extended far beyond the scope of his cameras which, in this case, would work to their advantage.

The crucial day began like any other, with Starrk napping on the lowest branch of his favorite tree while Ukitake tried to convince Lilynette to play a human game that consisted of drawing lines in the sand and throwing small shards of rock in patterns. She, of course, was more interested in beating the shinigami than actually learning or following the rules. Then Harribel sonido'd into the middle of their sand drawing, her appearance so sudden that Jushiro jumped back, automatically reaching for a sword that wasn't there. She didn't even spare him a glance.

"Starrk!"

"Hm?" Her urgency immediately brought him to attention, drawing him down from his perch.

"Two days." Meaning, Either Gin or Tousen would be present in Hueco Mundo and visible from the border of Aizen's territory for up to 48 hours.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She sonido'd away. He immediately turned towards Jushiro and Lilynette.

"We're leaving."

"Now?" Lilynette knew what it meant and she fiddled with her cloak, trying not to look intimidated. They were talking about _Aizen_, after all.

"What's going on?" Ukitake, on the other hand, had no idea.

"We're leaving, Ukitake-san." Starrk abruptly turned and set out into the desert, following Harribel's trail at a brisk pace. "It looks like you'll be going home soon."

Jushiro caught up with him and moved into his line of sight, trying to draw his gaze _It couldn't be that easy.._. "That's it?"

Starrk grunted, grabbed Lilynette, and moved into sonido, avoiding the serious, apprehensive look on the shinigami's face. (No doubt he was wondering what price he'd have to pay to be freed.) Taken by surprise (he'd seen hints but he didn't know Starrk could move _that _fast), Jushiro stumbled for a second then followed with shunpo. For someone who had severe medical problems and hadn't been capable of intense physical exertion for over a thousand years, the pace was brutal and eventually he began to flag. But just when he thought he would be left behind, Starrk came to a halt and waited for him to catch up. He was allowed to rest until his breathing was no longer labored and then Starrk set off again at the same pace. No matter how far they went, his captor showed no signs of fatigue.

They continued in that vein until Jushiro was panting and wheezing, unable to catch his breath, and his sight was fading in and out with exhaustion.

"Ukitake-san?" Starrk's face hovered overhead, eyebrows raised in what might have been concern.

Oh…when had he lied down?

"Ey, shinigami? You don't look so good."

He struggled to respond to Lilynette. "I'm…fine. Just need to…rest."

Starrk sighed and sat down next to him. Taking that as permission, Jushiro closed his eyes and immediately lost consciousness.

"We don't have time for this…" Lilynette muttered, pacing restlessly.

Her companion shrugged. "We've still got over a day and we're not too far away. Give him some time."

When he woke up, sore but rested, they resumed their trek.

* * *

Their destination turned out to be a cluster of rocks far, _far _away from where Jushiro had been held so far. Harribel and her fraccion were waiting when they arrived.

"What took you so long?" The Vasto Lorde was not pleased with their tardiness.

Starrk shrugged. "We had to make some stops along the way. Where is he?"

Harribel led them to the top of a neighboring dune and gestured out across the desert with her blade-arm. "There."

Confused, Jushiro turned is gaze in the direction she indicated….and stared.

Over a hundred feet below them in a sandy crevasse that wound its way across the flattest part of the desert clustered a small group of figures. They were hollows but…_strange. _Some were the wrong shape or size, others had jagged mask shards protruding from various places, and still more had no noticeable hollow hole. But that wasn't what stole Ukitake's attention. Beyond the hollows stood a figure wearing a white haori and a black kosode standing over a human-sized hollow that was kneeling execution-style in the sand. Even as he watched, spell bound and appalled, the figure's blade swung high and came down with merciless efficiency, severing the creatures head from its body. Not sparing the victim a second glance as it dissolved away, the killer turned towards the other hollows. As one, they bowed in apparent reverence.

The person was too far away and washed out by the moonlight for Jushiro to determine identity, but it was undeniably a shinigami.

"Geez…" Lilynette's tone was far too blasé for his taste. "What'd they do to piss him off?"

"A group of them ganged up and tried to attack a representative of..." Harribel faltered, eyeing Jushiro. "…of the King. The shinigami has been making examples of the rebels in front of 'loyal subjects' for the past three hours."

"What…" Jushiro had to clear his throat. "What…" No words would come.

"Ukitake-san." Starrk was suddenly close at his side. "You asked why we kidnapped you. This is…representative of the problem."

A shinigami in Hueco Mundo, interacting with hollows. And not mysterious partial-hollows like Starrk, but real, soul-eating, monsters…There was so much wrong with the situation it was hard to pick any one thing. As when he discovered Starrk's condition, he found his mind scrambling for an explanation. He turned a painfully confused look on his captor.

Starrk sighed and scrubbed at his hair, obviously unhappy but resigned. "A shinigami usurped the throne of Las Noches a while ago. He's been making some disturbing changes."

"Wait…there's a _throne _in Hueco Mundo?"

"THAT'S what you've got a problem with?" Lilynette scoffed. "There's always been a king! Did ya miss the part about a shinigami traitor making an army of hollows?"

"Apparently I DID." Ukitake eyed her, horrified by the thought. "That is impossible. That would be high treason, punishable by death."

"Well then, go on." She waved her hand at the figure down below. "Kill!"

"Lilynette, stop it." Starrk pulled her away, directing all of them back towards the rocks. "The last thing we want is to draw his attention."

"But…who is it? Do you know his name?"

Starrk waffled for a moment, eyes staring out into the distance while the other hollows looked to him for instruction. "He's a shinigami captain." He finally said. "His abilities…they are very strong, Ukitake-san. His zanpakuto can create tangible illusions so real they can convince you that an ally is a deadly enemy."

"I need to get back." Jushiro stated. "This is too big for me to handle. I need to report this to the captain commander and we can mount a full scale assault on –ugk!"

A sharp edge of white bone over his throat cut off his plan, accompanied by cold green eyes and sharp teeth mere inches from his face.

"Make no mistake, shinigami." Harribel growled. "I have no problem killing you here and now if you threaten myself or my fraccion. We want your kind OUT of Hueco Mundo, not for you to bring more in."

"Harribel." In response to Starrk's quiet, no-nonsense tone, the Vasto Lorde pulled away.

"…I see." Jushiro massaged his neck, wiping away a thin line of blood. "That's why you kept me alive. You _want_ me to take this information back, to get rid of the shinigami that is already here."

"Yes."

"For that, you need to return me to Seireitei." Realization dawned.

Starrk sighed. "Looks like."

"We're going now, right?" Lilynette piped in. "Before G-." Starrk nudged her sharply and she caught herself. "_The King's minion _notices us?"

"Might as well." Heart leaping with divided feelings (He was going _home! _There was a traitor in the Gotei. He'd see Shunsui! The traitor was consorting with _hollows…_) Jushiro watched with interest, expecting some sort of gadget or kido technique and a Senkaimon Instead, Starrk lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers, ripping open a strangely geometrical hollow portal right in front of Jushiro. He jumped back, startled and off put, nearly banging into Harribel.

"Come on." Without further ado, Starrk and Lilynette stepped into the blackness, a winding white path forming under their feet. If Jushiro squinted, he could see starlight and hear whistling wind on the other side. _Home._

But when he tried to follow, Harribel stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Remember what I said, shinigami. If you try to betray us, I have no problem killing you. Or anyone else who might become a threat."

Jushiro's elation dimmed and his expression sobered. What with everything, he'd almost forgotten that he was accompanying six _hollows_ into _Soul Society_.

This…was bad. Dangerous. He could only pray that they wouldn't run into any other shinigami while they were there.

* * *

Shunsui sat on the porch of Jushiro's vacant room with a mostly empty sake jug in hand, lost in thought.

A month.

Ukitake had been missing for a whole month.

The thirteenth division was in mourning and almost all of the other captains had lost hope. They never said it to his face but he saw their pitying looks when they noticed Sogyo no Kotowari tucked in his sash next to Katen Kyokotsu and heard the whispers. And he had to admit, it didn't look good: after a full investigation, neither the onmitsukido nor the research bureau had been able to find any leads to follow and Jushiro's own medical condition meant he was currently next to helpless. The only evidence they _had _found indicated a powerful hollow was involved. Many believed Ukitake was physically too weak to survive without medication even if he miraculously managed to escape on his own.

Shunsui knew Jushiro had a core of solid steel. His best friend was tougher than they gave him credit for. But a _month…_

No. He couldn't doubt, not now. Sogyo no Kotowari was still alive and well and that was all the evidence he needed. He didn't care if it wasn't solid enough for anyone else. One hand dropped to the hilt of Jushiro's zanpakuto, looking to feel that calming buzz that indicated his friend was still…

…It was _humming._

"Hm?" Startled, he set down his sake and turned his attention fully to the sword. "What's wrong…?"

It _pulsed _with excitement. And it wasn't in anger or fear…this was along the lines of '_Master's home! We're going to be reunited with Master! Yay!'_

His head snapped up, reaching out with his senses so fast it _hurt_. Breath suddenly coming fast and eyes wide, he searched for the reiatsu signature of his best friend…and found a telltale spark on the other side of the thirteenth's compound. Between one blink and the next, he was there, standing behind a group of trees and staring out at what should have been the strangest sight he'd ever seen. But all he registered was Jushiro standing tall and strong in the middle of the pathway, pale hair luminous in the moonlight. He sagged against the trunk of the nearest tree, lightheaded with relief.

"Remember what I said, shinigami."

His ears pricked up at the unfamiliar female voice.

"Trust me, Harribel-san, I have not forgotten." His heart leapt at the sound of Jushiro, but crashed back down at the next words. "I will not try to run."

So he was still a captive. And they'd brought him back to Seireitei? _Why?_

But even as he watched, three animal hollows advanced towards Ukitake, hemming him in and forcing him away from Shunsui's hiding place. There wasn't any time to question the whats and whys of the situation; he was _not_ going to risk losing Jushiro again. Katen Kyokotsu in hand, he jumped into shunpo, aiming to grab Jushiro and get out but ready to cut through anything in his way.

Unfortunately, just as Shunsui darted between the arrancar and raised his arm to strike at the adjuchas guarding Jushiro, Starrk turned his head. Maybe it was a trick of the light, an unfortunate angle, perspective, or just plain unlucky timing, but the split-second snapshot _he _registered was the pink-clad shinigami that had killed him holding a sword over Lilynette's head.

His reaction was instant and instinctive_._

One millisecond everything was going according to plan, the next a man appeared in Shunsui's path moving so fast (_faster than a captain's shunpo!) _he seemed to teleport (there wasn't even a _blur)_. Startled but undeterred, the shinigami brought his sword to bear but the other man _deflected it with his bare arm (He wasn't even injured?!)_ and lashed out, forcing him back. The captain dodged and tried to circle around but his opponent lunged for him,_ materializing a sword out of thin air (?!)_ and using the element of surprise to whip the blade in a horizontal strike at Shunsui's chest _(Faster than most captains!)_. Only, instead of following through and meeting Kyoraku's instinctive vertical block and strategic counterattack, the stranger twisted his blade at the last second and slammed the flat over the shinigami's wrist instead _(Ow!), _driving his hand numb and forcing him to drop the blade and using the element of surprise to kick him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Before Shunsui could recover, the tip of his enemy's blade was buried in the hollow of his throat (_millimeters from severing his jugular_). The shinigami froze, not daring to breathe in fear of accidentally spearing himself on the sharp sword _(had he been __**beaten?**__)_.

It was all over in less than ten seconds.

For a moment, everyone was silent, flabbergasted and confused. Jushiro recovered first, struck with horror at the sight of his best friend about to die at Starrk's hand.

"NO!" He yelled, jumping forward. But the adjuchas were too close for him to make it past; SungSun grabbed his legs in her coils, knocking him on his stomach, and Mila Rose leapt on his back, sharp claws digging into both shoulders. When he still struggled, Apacci bent her head and glared at him, waving her sharp antlers in front of his eyes.

"Stuff it, shinigami!"

"No!" He scratched at the dirt, wheezing as his lungs finally realized he was no longer in the reishi-rich Hueco Mundo and responding as they always had. "Starrk, don't! **Shunsui!**"

Shunsui lay flat on his back, muscles loose and hands open at his sides in an attempt to look as non-threatening as possible. He didn't dare move; if the blade so much as twitched in the wrong direction, not even Retsu would be able to fix him before he bled out. Thankfully, the other man seemed to be calming down. Their eyes were locked and the panicked kill-or-be-killed expression was fading into something far more sedate and a little bit confused.

"Be quiet shinigami." It was the female he'd heard before, the one he assumed was in charge. "I warned you what would happen."

Jushiro didn't respond to her, instead appealing to the normally-more-reasonable male arrancar.

"Starrk!" Shunsui didn't (couldn't) turn his head but his ears pricked up at the sound of Jushiro's voice. After so many terrifying, heart-wrenching days when his best friend was missing and assumed dead, hearing his name in that familiar voice made the jagged, broken feeling in his chest smooth over. Even if Jushiro sounded just this side of panicked. "Please! You don't want to hurt anyone!"

"Hn." The sword retreated slightly; not enough for Shunsui to move, but enough for him to feel that his throat would be safe if he began to breathe again. "No one was supposed to be here."

"He's not a threat. If you let him go..."

A young, feminine voice scoffed off to the side. "Oh, please! He'd kill us in a heartbeat!"

Shunsui's blinked in surprise. He hadn't gotten a good look at any of the intruders, but that was...unexpected.

"Mhm. Nice try, shinigami." Jushiro's protest subsided and, from experience, the pink-clad captain could tell he was regrouping to try a different tack. Shunsui tried to smile disarmingly around the blade to diffuse tension, but the stranger's luminous blue eyes hardened with suspicion.

"I'm not interested in playing your _games_, Taicho-san." The emphasis on that was…odd. Shunsui furrowed his brow but his smile didn't waver.

"That's alright, Kidnapper-san. Although I prefer to play games over fighting." He quirked an eyebrow hopefully. It rarely worked, but maybe…

Starrk blinked and frowned, relaxing his grip. "I don't like fighting."

Shunsui grinned but before he could try to ease the tension further, the female cut in again.

"What are you waiting for, Starrk? Kill him."

"No!" Jushiro squirmed but couldn't work his way out from under the adjuchas. His pleading eyes fixed on the male hollow and Starrk visibly wavered.

"Starrk." Her voice was cold. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not that kind of guy, Harribel." He shrugged and stepped back, allowing Shunsui to scramble to his feet.

"I recognize this one. " Her voice was quiet and deadly. "He is the one that tried to kill you. BOTH of you." When Starrk's eyes flicked towards Lilynette, the shinigami also looked. Shunsui blinked when he realized the little girl was clutching his swords (she must have grabbed them while he was down) and chuckled when she stuck her tongue out at him. His smile faded as Harribel continued. "This is the shinigami that stabbed you in the back and left you for dead and this is your chance to take your revenge. It could be your _only _chance to catch him unaware.

"Hey now!" Shunsui interjected. "I haven't tried to kill anyone! I think I'd remember THAT."

"No, you probably wouldn't." Starrk grumbled and turned towards Shunsui but his sword did not come back up. "She's right, Taicho-san. Why shouldn't I kill you?"

The shinigami frowned. "I haven't done anything!"

"Not yet."

"…What?"

"Starrk-san." Almost forgotten in the background, Jushiro spoke up, gasping out his words through the discomfort of having his chest compressed. "You don't want to do this. Isn't your goal to avoid war? Do you really think killing a shinigami captain will help you do that?"

"Hn."

"That is irrelevant. Shinigami cannot come to Hueco Mundo. The only one that needs to survive is Ukitake." Harribel's voice was crisp and emotionless but her words drew appalled and worried expressions from both shinigami.

Starrk grunted noncommittally and scratched at his chin, avoiding her eyes.

Harribel's expression hardened. "I see."

She turned on her heel and stalked back towards the Garganta, a line of slightly deeper darkness in the moonless night. "We're leaving."

"Harribel-sama…?"

"Leave him." She barked. All three adjuchas immediately dropped their captive and scrambled after her, returning to Hueco Mundo without a backwards glance.

"They're not going to be there when we get back, are they?" Lilynette's voice was caught somewhere between wistful and unhappy as she stepped up beside her partner. Like Starrk, she really wanted friends, but Harribel was proving too focused on her own weakness to be reliable. Granted, Starrk was acting like a wishy-washy coward, but that didn't warrant the Vasto Lorde's response.

"I wouldn't count on it." Starrk moved to sheath Los Lobos, before remembering this was the first time he'd materialized it and he had no scabbard.

"Jushiro!"

"Hey, Shunsui."

Both of them turned to look at the two shinigami. Shunsui was now hovering over the still-prone form of Jushiro, who was a bit worse for wear (worse than he'd been his entire time in Hueco Mundo, actually) but his eyes were clear and there was a smile on his face. As they watched, the other captain knelt and gently covered Ukitake with his haori, then pulled the sick man onto his lap.

The arrancar sighed and plodded past them towards the Garganta, bare blade held low at his side.

"Starrk-san!" He turned at Jushiro's call, meeting his sympathetic brown eyes (still friendly, despite the encounter with Shunsui). "…Thank you."

"For what?"

"Keeping me safe from Harribel. The warning about Hueco Mundo. Sparing my best friend." He smiled. "Thank you."

"…Sure. You're welcome. Good luck with…dealing with everything." He took a final long look at the reunited friends before turning back towards Hueco Mundo. Lilynette minced in behind him, dropping Shunsui's swords on the ground before darting after Starrk. She yelled back over her shoulder.

"Bye, shinigami!"

"Goodbye, Lilynette."

The Garganta closed silently, leaving Shunsui clutching Jushiro like he would never let go. A few minutes later, the onmitsukido finally detected a security threat and arrived to deal with it. There was an immediate uproar at the sight of the missing shinigami captain and he was quickly whisked away to be cared for in the fourth division.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

So…here ya go!

This chapter wound up being more narrative-heavy than expected, but it was either that or drag Jushiro's captivity out for 3-4 chapters. And while I love Jushiro, I really want to advance the story a bit faster than _that._

Would you guys be interested in some **deleted scenes** posted separately? It's mostly cutesy, fluffy stuff: Jushiro trying to teach Lilynette how to play children's games, Starrk sheltering them from the sandstorm, the clothing issue, Jushiro's observations on his captors, etc.

One more thing: The whole deal with reishi in Hueco Mundo enhancing healing and reiatsu-based abilities is canon, explained in manga chapter 245 and/or the anime ep. where Ichigo & co. invade Hueco Mundo (I don't remember the number). I'm not sure why I'm so paranoid about clarifying that…maybe because it feels like a cop out? Except it's part of the universe…

ADD: Argh. FFnet's space-and-figure eating editor is screwing up some of my formatting. If you notice anything wrong, please let me know.

* * *

**Please Review & let me know what you think!**

Reviews are a great source of encouragement and inspiration so more reviews = more (& faster) updates.

And a big 'Thank You' to those of you who reviewed last chapter! **Guest, ThatOneFan, Ensteinium, mist shadow, otogii, FairoNeko, ennui deMorte, Zaralann, Guest (2), Weasel Fu, CelestialxXxAngel, fprintmoon, KyuukiTheAnimeFreak, QuietInsomniac, Shironami-Whitewave**, **Jarjaxle, Guest (3), **and **Waywardneko**; You guys are awesome!

* * *

**Currently Relevant Time Line Information: **

…Has not changed this chapter.

**I will include new facts relevant to the current chapter on this list. In order to make the 'Five Years' timeline work, I will be taking creative liberty with some info and making assumptions about certain events (that Kubo never clarified, one way or the other), so please don't nitpick at me.**


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